1907–08 New Zealand rugby tour of Australia and Great Britain

The 1907–1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Australia and Great Britain was a tour made by a group of New Zealandrugby footballers who played matches in Australia, Ceylon, England and Wales between 1907 and 1908. Most of the matches were played under the rules of the Northern Union, a sport that is today known as rugby league, as such, the team were the immediate predecessors of the New Zealand national rugby league team. The tour had a large role in establishing rugby league in both Australia and New Zealand, and also gave birth to international rugby league,[1][2] the tour party has come to be known as the professional All Blacks or All Golds, although at the time they were commonly referred to as the All Blacks—a named popularised by the New Zealand rugby union team that toured the Northern Hemisphere in 1905.

The idea for a professional rugby tour was conceived by Albert Baskiville, a player from the Wellington region of New Zealand. Baskiville managed to recruit a significant number of international and provincial representatives for the team; including George Smith who toured with the All Blacks team of 1905. The team played their first match in Sydney in 1907 against New South Wales, the success of the team's three matches in Sydney prompted the formation of the New South Wales Rugby League, and also saw them recruit Australian Dally Messenger for their tour of Wales and England. After stopping over in Ceylon, the team arrived in England on 30 September 1907, the team played 35 matches in England and Wales, including a Test match against Wales, and three Tests against England. They returned via Australia where they played a further ten matches, including three Test matches against Australia, they won a total of 26 of their 46 matches.

The tour firmly established rugby league in both New Zealand and Australia, and was commemorated by a centenary tour in 2007—the 2007 All Golds Tour.

Rugby union had established itself as the national winter game in New Zealand even before the 1905 tour of The Originals. This tour was a success both on the field and commercially off the field, with the New Zealand Rugby Union making a profit of £12,000.[3] However, in New Zealand some discontent about the state of rugby union's rules and the lack of ability to compensate players for time lost from work were beginning to rise,[2] these tensions were similar to the ones that had led to the 1895 schism in England that had created the Northern Union. In addition the Originals were only paid 3/- a day expenses while on tour, a token amount when the Rugby Union was making such a profit.

Albert Baskiville was well known in rugby circles, playing for the Oriental club and on the verge of Wellington provincial selection.[3] He had also in 1907 published a book entitled Modern Rugby Football: New Zealand Methods which explained how to play the game and was widely read. He was inspired to launch a tour to play the clubs in the Northern Union by an article in the Daily Mail written by F W Cooper, the article, written by a Northern Union advocate, said that while the Originals tour had been successful it was a shame that they had not played any of the northern clubs, which at the time of the 1895 break away were regarded as some of the strongest clubs in England. Baskiville had conversations with several prominent rugby players, including the famous Original George William Smith who had talked to Northern Union officials and J J Giltinan about starting the code in Sydney.[3] Smith's role in starting the game in Australasia was crucial as he had a wide set of connections and was a well known sporting celebrity, being an Original, a world class sprinter and a champion jockey.

In early 1907 Baskiville wrote to the Northern Rugby Football Union (NRFU) asking if they would wish to host a tour of a New Zealand rugby team, as the North of England had not had any international rugby since the tour of the 1888-1889 New Zealand Native football team, the NRFU was enthusiastic. On 26 March 1907 it advised its member clubs that it was "very favourably disposed" to the tour and suggested that the tourists be paid 70% of the gates with a guarantee of £3000,[3] the Northern Union informed Baskiville that the tour should go ahead and by May plans were firmly underway in New Zealand. Baskiville then resigned his job at the New Zealand Post Office to plan the tour full-time.[3]

Excerpt of an article from 1 June 1907 NZ Truth.[4] Baskiville's plans were conveyed unfavourably in the New Zealand press.

News of the tour was first publicly broken by the New Zealand Herald which ran a story on 13 May 1907 about a possible professional rugby tour,[3] it was extraordinary the level of secrecy that the New Zealand organisers had achieved, with the news being broken via England. Opposition to the tour was vocal with the New Zealand Rugby Union condemning the tour and the media being generally supportive of the amateur game and its ideals of amateurism. However, as the co-operative nature of the tour became more widely known the touring party gained some public sympathy and the Rugby Union appeared to be increasingly the one out of touch with public opinion.[3]

Baskiville assembled a team of selectors; Duncan McGregor, Massa Johnston, Hercules Richard Wright and George William Smith, and they began to think about the type of players they wished to bring on the tour. Knowing the rule changes that the Northern Union had made to their game the selectors knew line-out specialists would not be required and decided to favour players with ample amounts of speed and acceleration, they also needed players that were prepared to invest some money into the venture and probably accept a lifetime ban from rugby union. In the end no less than 160 of the roughly 200 rugby union players involved in provincial rugby in New Zealand applied to go on the tour, a huge blow to the Rugby Union who had anticipated a low amount of interest,[3] it was from these applications that the final team was selected, with players who had indicated early they were prepared to tour being favoured. At least two rugby union internationals did not tour, "Opai" Asher declined due to a broken ankle and George A. Gillett had to pull out at short notice due to injury.[1] Both were to switch to rugby league later on in their careers; in the end the tour included nine internationals and fourteen provincial players, a large number selected from the Wellington and Auckland teams that had recently been battling over the Ranfurly Shield.

Messenger played against the All Blacks in Sydney and then joined them on their tour of Great Britain

With the tour plans well underway George Smith contacted Peter Moir, a prominent Sydney player, asking if it would be possible to arrange a set of games in Sydney. Moir contacted others including J J Giltinan, who Smith had already talked to, before replying that a series of games would be able to be arranged.[3] Rugby players in Sydney shared many of the New Zealand players' concerns about payment and rules, on 8 August 1907 the New South Wales Rugby League was formed. The New South Welshmen organised quickly and were ready to welcome the New Zealanders when the main touring party arrived on 13 August 1907, the New South Wales rugby union side had defeated the New Zealand rugby union team 14–0 in their second of two matches in 1907 and so were expected to be tough opponents, especially as the professional All Blacks had yet to form combinations and several of the Auckland-based players had not yet arrived in Sydney.

The first game was played on the Royal Agricultural Society Ground to a sold out crowd of 20,000. Played under rugby union rules, the visitors led 6–0 at halftime and closed out the match, winning 12–8,[3] the stars of the first game were Richard Wynyard for New Zealand and Dally Messenger for the New South Wales side. The game was deemed to be a great success, as the organisers had not expected a crowd over 12,000.[3]

The New South Wales team who played the All Golds in Sydney

The second game, a mid-week game, was held in front of a crowd of approximately 3,000, the All Blacks, who had made several changes, defeated the "All Blues" 19–5.

The New Zealanders then won the third match of the series 5–3 in front of a crowd of 8,000 at the Agricultural Ground.[5] Dally Messenger, playing his first game as captain, again starred and was invited to join the touring party.

It is unclear when the decision to invite Messenger was made, with some reports saying that he was recommended to Baskiville in New Zealand by George Gillett when he had to withdraw from the touring party due to injury.[3] Messenger's name was included on the contract bought over from New Zealand, indicating that the decision had already been made.[6] However, Messenger's form against the All Blacks in Sydney was certainly good enough to warrant his inclusion in the touring party. A fourth match had originally been planned in Melbourne, as an attempt to foster rugby in the city, but the plans fell through for unknown reasons. Instead the All Blacks left Australia, having earned £600 from the three games, during their short stay the tourists had helped kick-start the professional movement in Sydney.[7] While leaving Australia news came through that the New Zealand Rugby Union had issued life bans to all of those involved in the tour.[3]

While on the long sea voyage from Australia, the men tried to keep fit by training on the deck, during a stop over in Ceylon the team was challenged to a game by the Ceylon rugby union. The All Blacks won the match against Ceylon 33–8,[3] as a result of this match the rugby union New Zealand side declined to play the Ceylonese on the return leg of their tour, deeming that Ceylon had forfeited their amateur status by playing against Baskerville's men.[9]

During the voyage the tourists also played a game of cricket against the ships officers and first class passengers and were again victorious, winning by an innings.[3] McGregor and Messenger proved to be the best bowlers in the touring party.[3]

The arrival of the team was met with great anticipation in the Yorkshire and Lancashire, areas that had been devoid of international competition for so long, the exciting play of the 1905 Originals and the reports that the current side had won three matches in Australia only heightened the expectations of the hosts. The RMS Ortona, carrying the touring side, berthed in Marseilles, France and the squad took a train to Boulogne before they boarded the Empress. They reached England on 30 September 1907, arriving in Folkestone, the visitors were met by the main officials of the Northern Rugby Football Union. The team stayed the night in London, where the Northern Union officials introduced the side to the press – near the headquarters of the English Rugby Union,[3] the next day the side traveled north to Leeds where they were met at the station by a crowd of about 6,000, all keen to see the touring All Blacks.[3] After they had arrived the tourists had two weeks before their first game, they spent the time based in Leeds, training and adapting to both the new rules of the Northern Union and the colder climate.[10] They also watched Leeds and Hunslet play a local derby game – the first time they had seen the new rules in operation.

The first game was held on 9 October 1907 against Bramley, around 8,000 spectators packed McLaren Field in Bramley to see the All Blacks win 25–6 in their first game under the Northern Union rules.[11] In their second game against Huddersfield the tourists, keen for as many players as possible to get a run, selected a team mostly made up of players who were not involved in the first match,[3] they still managed to defeat Huddersfield, winning 19–8 with Lance Todd playing a key role in the game played before a crowd of over 10,000. After the first two matches the touring side met with the Northern Union and discussed the first two games; they also received their first payment – a cheque for £448–15–6.[3] The tour then moved on to Lancashire where the team played Widnes at Naughton Park before a new ground record crowd, resulting in a 26–11 victory.[12] Just two days later the visitors met the Broughton Rangers, who were at the time a powerhouse of the Northern Union. Regarded as the All Blacks' "first big test" the match was played in front of a large crowd of 24,000.[3] New Zealand took an early lead in the game and, despite a spirited Broughton comeback in a torrential downpour, held out to win 20–14.

The All Blacks next traveled to Wakefield to play Wakefield Trinity, the tourists rested several key players for this game and badly underestimated their opponents.[3] New Zealand fell behind early and only managed to salvage a 5-all draw. Stung by the result, the All Blacks decided to select their best team to take on Leeds, they went on to win 8–2, despite winning only one out of every five scrums.[3] After this match the tourists received their second cheque, this one for £1036-10-8, and it was already clear that the tour was going to record a healthy profit, during this second meeting with the Northern Union the visitors requested that two more test matches be added to the itinerary, turning it into a three-match test series.[3] For the other two matches the Northern Union first contacted the Crystal Palace Football Club, however negotiations fell through and the second test was instead scheduled to take place at Chelsea Football Club's Stamford Bridge. The third match was scheduled for Whaddon Road in Cheltenham, the same ground that the amateur All Blacks had played on several years earlier, for the Northern Union this series of matches represented a chance to expand their game into areas of England dominated by rugby union and association football. Also at this time the New Zealand team, with an increasing list of injuries, moved their base from Leeds to Ilkley, a spa town in Yorkshire.

The tour's next match was in St. Helens where the team visited the birthplace of Richard Seddon before playing St. Helens, winning 24–5. The All Blacks then moved on to Wales to play Merthyr Tydfil, the club having only recently converted to the Northern Union code, the side won 27–9 and then returned to Ilkley with a number of injuries. Their next match was against Keighley, one of the top teams in the league, on Guy Fawkes Day and Smith, Messenger, Billy Wynyard, Cross and Gilchrist were all unavailable.[3] 8,000 supporters turned up to the match, Keighley's biggest gate at the time, and Keighley led at half time. However the All Blacks fought back and won the match 9–7 to remain unbeaten after two months of football.

The next game was against Wigan, already by this time one of the giants of the game. A massive crowd of 30,000 supporters packed in to see their local side take on the New Zealanders, the tourists fielded the strongest side they were able to, although several players were missing or playing out of position due to injuries. Despite playing well the All Blacks went down 12–8 to Wigan to record their first loss on the tour after fourteen matches, the tourists' next game was against Barrow, their first game in Cumberland. The team arrived in Barrow late, having had a train be delayed, and the weather was poor. Barrow were able to frustrate New Zealand, who could not play open football in the weather, and the All Blacks suffered their second loss in a row, going down 6–3, they next had to travel to Kingston upon Hull where they took on the Hull F.C. The game was a higher scoring affair and the visitors were able to come out winners, 18–13. For their next game, against Leigh, the weather was again poor and the All Blacks were again beaten in the rain, losing 15–9, they lost again in their next match, as 15,000 spectators watched Oldham win 8–7 in drenching rain and, in the second half, a snowstorm.[3] By now it was established that in good weather the visiting side were able to beat anybody, however in the wet weather their backs were not able to handle the ball and matches were a much closer affair,[3] during the next Wednesday's game New Zealand were again defeated in the rain, dominated by the Runcorn RFC forwards they lost 9–0. After a string of defeats and poor weather the side's management decided to re-locate and the team was moved to Manchester, seeking slightly better weather.

The touring side next played a combined Dewsbury and Batley side, winning 18–8 in fine conditions, and backed this up by defeating Swinton 11–2 and Rochdale Hornets 19–0. The New Zealanders were then upset by Bradford F.C., who defeated then 7–2 in gale force winds and driving rain. This was backed up with another loss, going down to Halifax, the League champions, 9–4, the All Blacks' next game was against Yorkshire, the first of their matches against County representative sides. The visitors were ready for this game and defeated the proud rugby county 23–4. New Zealand's next game was against the current Challenge Cup holders, Warrington. Ten thousand spectators watched the Warrington side pip the All Blacks 8–7 despite the visitors being ahead 7–5 at half time, the tourists spent Christmas Day in Manchester before heading to Leeds to take on Hunslet in a boxing day match. New Zealand were ahead 9–0 at halftime and were leading 11–8 in the second half when the home team had a player sent off, the first of the tour, however Hunslet still managed to score and the final result was an 11-all draw. Two days later the tourists played Salford, and won 9–2 in front of 12,000 people.

New Year's Day saw the touring party head to Wales for their first international match. Aberdare Athletic Ground was the venue of the first ever rugby league international on 1 January 1908, played between Wales and New Zealand,[13][14] the New Zealand Rugby League later recognised this match as New Zealands first ever test match.[2] Aberdare had been chosen for the venue as it could hold a larger capacity than Merthyr, in the end 20,000 Welshmen turned up, the Welsh side contained a former Welsh amateur international as well as several players who had been playing in the Northern Union for years.

Dai Jones scored the winning try for Wales in the first match of international rugby league

New Zealand led the match 8–3 at halftime but the Welsh came back and Dai Jones scored a try with only minutes to go that put the Welsh 9–8 in front. Dick Wynyard then dropped a pass in front of the try line and the Welsh won the first international rugby league match.[10]

The day after the game the touring party left Wales, heading back to Kingston upon Hull for their second visit, this time to play the Hull Kingston Rovers, the All Blacks somewhat rebounded, winning 6–3 in a tightly fought contest. Reaching the business end of the tour, the New Zealanders next headed north to play the representative Cumberland side. Here they were defeated 21–9 after resting several key players for the international against England.

The tourist next played an England XIII at Central Park in Wigan. 12,000 spectators turned up despite the ground being frozen – necessitating a layer of straw to be placed over the top. The conditions favoured an open game and by half time the score was 11-all; in the end England ran out winners 18–16, meaning the New Zealanders had now lost two internationals. After the match the All Blacks were invited to visit the Duke of Portland's residence and they were pleased to be able to meet the famous New Zealand racing horse Carbine, all of the touring party being given a small lock of the horse's hair as a parting gift.[3]

The tourists now moved their base to Blackpool but their form did not improve, losing to the Lancashire county team 20–4. Going into the three test series against the Northern Union it was clear that they were not full of confidence.

Going into the first test Dally Messenger, Duncan McGregor and Conrad Byrne were all unavailable due to influenza. Great Britain was boosted by England and Wales having both already played New Zealand, the two teams had then played each other to complete the tri-series, the weather too was poor, thick fog blamed for a low crowd, half of the 16,000 that had been predicted.[3]

After thirty minutes it the game was still scoreless, until Jolley finally broke the deadlock with a drop goal. By half time Great Britain was up 8–0. Hubert Turtill scored soon after halftime and then Dick Wynyard missed an opportunity to level the scores after he had taken an intercept at halfway but failed to reach his support. Robinson then scored to put the home side ahead 14–3. Wynyard then scored a late try but it was not enough and the All Blacks were again defeated, losing the first ever test match between New Zealand and Great Britain.

The tourists then lost again, this time going down 5–3 in a mid week game against York. January had not been a good month for the All Blacks with just one win from seven. Leading up to the second test the New Zealanders returned to Wales to play Ebbw Vale on 1 February. Here they finally returned to the winning circle, winning 3–2.

The second test was the first time that rugby league had been played in London, and as a result the match was deemed to be important for the Northern Unions chances of expanding into the rest of England.

In the second test match New Zealand completely outplayed Great Britain, with the home side being held score less until the last five minutes, the tourists' win set up the series at 1-all and the spotlight then moved to Cheltenham, the scene of the third and deciding test match.

The morning before the third and final test match was filled with rain, the weather may have contributed to the reduced crowd, although the game was being played in the Midlands in an area that was a stronghold of rugby union. The Great Britain selectors had made a series of changes for the third match and had included Billy Batten, who was making his international debut; in contrast the visitors' team remained unchanged from their win in the second test.

The British began the game on the attack and scored early through a White penalty, because of the conditions the match developed into a forwards slog. Just before half time Great Britain scored and took a 5–0 lead into the break. However, with the wind at their backs, the New Zealanders dominated the second half, they were held out by the British however until, with just seven minutes to go, the tourists finally scored through Messenger. The try was converted and the score was 5-all, with a few minutes remaining Tom "Angry" Cross was sent off. This seemed to inspire the All Black forwards and they pushed hard in a scrum near the British line, resulting in Massa Johnston crashing over to score the winning try, the New Zealand side therefore had won the first rugby league test series 2–1.

The tourists then returned North for their final game in England, a re-match against St Helens R.F.C.. Albert Baskiville played in his first match of the tour, scoring a try as New Zealand won 23–10. The side then prepared to return to New Zealand via Australia, although several players opted to stay behind and sign professional contracts with British clubs. George William Smith signed with Oldham for £150 while Lance Todd signed with Wigan for a massive £400 as well as the captaincy. Duncan McGregor, Joseph Lavery and Jim Gleeson all also opted to stay behind, with McGregor opening a sports shop and playing for Merthyr Tydfil, Lavery signing with Leeds and Gleeson completing his legal studies at the Inns of Court. The rest of the team left Great Britain on 29 February 1908.

The New Zealanders arrived in Australia on 9 April 1908 lacking match fitness after the sea voyage and being short of backs. Several had stayed in Britain and Messenger was to revert to his home teams to play for New South Wales and Australia against the tourists, the All Blacks therefore called up James Barber, a provincial scrum half and utility player who had previously represented Wellington. They then spread themselves around the eight New South Wales Rugby Football League clubs that were preparing for the 1908 NSWRFL season, Australia's first in rugby league, and helped advise them on the rules of the new game.[7]

The tourists stayed in Sydney long enough to watch the first round of the new premiership season, which began on Easter Monday, before heading north to Newcastle.[19] Here they played a Newcastle side at rugby union, defeating them 53–6, they then played a "Northern Districts" selection and defeated them 37–8 in the first ever game of rugby league played in Newcastle.[19] The visit by the touring New Zealand side boosted the profile of rugby league in Newcastle as the Newcastle Rebels were at the time playing all their matches away in Sydney, as a result of the visit playing numbers in Newcastle surged and in 1910 the Rebels dropped out of the Sydney competition to form their own league.[19]

The touring side then returned to Sydney for two matches against New South Wales, the first game was played on 2 May. Sydney had produced a very warm day for the match and the Australian ground suited the open passing of the new Northern Rugby Football Union's rules, the Blues were ahead 14–7 at half time and went on to win the match 18–10. The crowd was impressed with the new code and remained behind after the match to applaud the two teams, this game helped ensure that rugby league would become the dominant winter code in New South Wales.[3] The second game was just as open and the New South Wales side again managed to win 13–10, with the All Blacks being denied a try on full-time by a linesman's call.

The first Test, Australia's inaugural rugby league international, was shaping up to be an even encounter, with the tourists having regained their match fitness and most of the newly formed Australian side having been involved in the preceding series with New South Wales, the Australian selectors were determined to include some Queenslanders in the side and three were selected, despite no games of rugby league having yet been played in Queensland. Sydney again produced a nice day and 20,000 spectators turned up to see the first ever test match between the ANZAC nations.

New Zealand took control from the start, despite having Massa Johnston wrongly sent off early in the match.[21] By halftime it was 11–2 to the visitors, the Second half however was all Australia and they scored twice to make the score 11–10. With full-time nearing Messenger had two penalty shots but uncharacteristically missed both and the New Zealanders held on to win the first ever test match between the two sides 11–10.[6][21] Messenger's kicking had been off all game, he had only kicked two despite having fourteen attempts.[21]Albert Baskiville on the other hand had played in his first test match and won much praise with his performance, deserving his try.[7] It would also turn out to be the only test match he ever played. Precisely 100 years later this match was commemorated on 9 May 2008 in the Centenary rugby league test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The tourists then headed north to Brisbane for a series of matches leading up to the second test match, the visit did much to kick start rugby league in Queensland.[10] The matches played by the visiting New Zealand side were the first games of rugby league played in the state, despite three Queensland players having already represented the Kangaroos in the first test in Sydney.[7] Baskiville had become ill on the sea voyage up from Sydney and he did not play again for the tourists, being admitted to hospital, the first game, without Baskiville was held on 16 May against Queensland. The Queensland side included Bill Hardcastle who had been an All Black in 1897 before moving to Queensland. New Zealand ran out winners 34–12 in a match that impressed the press and the spectators, the midweek game was against a Brisbane Metropolitan side and the tourists ran out winners 43–10. After the match the players rushed to the Victoria Private Hospital to check on Baskiville, they found him unconscious and his condition quickly deteriorated. Albert Baskiville died late in the afternoon and of 20 May 1908.[7] Harry Palmer headed home with his casket accompanied by a group of players representing each province. Baskiville was buried at Karori Cemetery in Wellington; in the meantime the remaining players had to prepare for the further two test matches. In the build-up they drew 12-all with the same Queensland side that they had earlier beaten 34–12.

After the Queensland rugby league team played its first two matches ever against the touring New Zealanders, who also played a match against Brisbane, the Second Test match against Australia was played in Brisbane and 6,000 spectators turned up to watch the first test match to be held in the state. The All Blacks, still grieving over the loss of Baskiville, could only field a skeleton team and did not perform a pre-match haka.[3]

As they did in the first test New Zealand dominated early in the match, with Harold Rowe scoring early, and by half time the New Zealanders led 15–2, the Second half was no easier for the Australians, and the All Blacks ran out winners 24–12 in one of the most decisive test match displays ever put on by a New Zealand side.

The tourists then headed back to Sydney to prepare for their final match. While they had been in Brisbane the first New Zealand Māori rugby league team had arrived in Sydney on 29 May for their own tour of Australia. The side was led by "Opai" Asher and was to prove another boost to the finances of the New South Wales Rugby Football League.

The game developed into a tight, low scoring affair and the visitors were ahead 6–0 at halftime, they then extended their lead to 9–3 before Australia came back and then ran out winners 14–9, claiming the country's first test match victory in the final match of the New Zealand tour.

The second visit to Australia by the tourists had done much to boost the game in the country, they had played the first ever rugby league matches in Newcastle and Brisbane and had boosted the coffers of the fledgling New South Wales Rugby League and Queensland Rugby League organisations.[7] The New Zealanders then headed home to very little fanfare, and certainly nothing to match the lavish official welcome that had been granted The Original All Blacks in 1905.

On their return home the tourists an exhibition game at Athletic Park, the first game of rugby league in New Zealand, this match was played on 13 June 1908 and 8,000 people attended to see "Wright's Blacks" defeat "Turtill's Reds" 55–20.[24] The match allowed the team to raise £300 for Mrs Baskiville, Albert's mother.[2]

The tour itself had been a great success both financially -the tour made a £5,641 profit and each player received almost £300- and on the field, where the New Zealanders had defeated both Great Britain and Australia 2–1, these feats were not to be replicated for many years with the New Zealand national team failing to win another series in Australia until 1952 and in Great Britain until 1971.[1]

For the Northern Union the tour had given the game credibility and its first international test opponents since the breakaway code had been established.

In Australia the tour had helped spark the establishment of the game and helped offset the costs of the New South Wales Rugby League's expensive first season. Australia was soon to send its own touring party to Great Britain, although the side did not make as much of a profit as Baskerville's All Blacks had.

In New Zealand the "Northern Union code" did not manage to successfully establish itself as quickly as it did in Australia. Albert Baskiville had been the tour's chief organiser and his death was a huge blow to the game in New Zealand as well as the players personally. Baskiville had also been talking about arranging a tour of the United States of America before his death; in some ways the New Zealanders were too successful as the number of them signing professional contracts meant that there were fewer players to help establish the game back home. Daniel Fraser took a role in organising matches and at Victoria Park on 24 August 1908 8,000 people watched Auckland, captained by Richard Wynyard, defeat Wellington 16–14 in the first provincial match in New Zealand. The two sides met in Petone on 12 September and drew 13-all. A New Zealand side toured Australia in 1909, including six of the original touring party; in Auckland Billy Tyler and Charlie Dunning helped to form the Ponsonby Ponies club while William Mackrell was involved in establishing the Newton rugby league club and the Auckland Rugby League competition started in 1910. The New Zealand Rugby Football League was formally established on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a Great Britain tour later that same year.[1] The Wellington and Canterbury Rugby League competitions were not to start until 1913.[1]

In 2002 a Baskerville Shield was created to be contested each time New Zealand took on Great Britain; in 2007 the team was commemorated by the 2007 All Golds Tour which featured an All Golds v Northern Union match as well as a three test series between the New Zealand Kiwis and Great Britain. Steve Price played the role of Dally Messenger, playing in the All Golds match.[25][26] The "All Golds", as they had also come to be known in the media due to their professionalism,[27] then played their first ever match in New Zealand in 2008 when they took on the New Zealand Māori in a match that served as a warm up to the 2008 World Cup for the New Zealand Kiwis.

The players on the tour did not consider themselves to be professionals, the members of the tour had all invested £50 and received back an equal share of the tours profits.[2] At this stage none of the players played either rugby code as a career, although several became professionals after the tour had ended, they compared themselves to past tours such as the 1902 Australian cricket tour of England which had shared the profits of the tour and were still regarded as amateurs.[1] The New Zealand Rugby Union considered the players to be professionals and all members of the tour subsequently received a life ban from rugby union.[3]

The team's registered title was "The New Zealand All Black Rugby Football Team" and it was most often referred to as the All Blacks on the tour,[28] the same name which had been given to The Original amateur rugby union team on their tour of Great Britain in 1905. Like the Originals they were sometimes referred to in the press as New Zealand or other names such as Maorilanders and Colonials. Less favourable members of the press referred to them as the All Golds or Pro Blacks — highlighting the fact that the team was playing for money, the term All Golds was first coined by the Sydney Morning Herald in 1907 as a headline. However colloquially the players would have probably referred to themselves as the All Blacks or the New Zealand rugby team.[2][29]

Later on, the New Zealand national rugby league team began to be known as the Kiwis instead of the All Blacks. Referring back to the 1907–08 team historians have often called them the professional All Blacks or All Golds, the New Zealand Rugby League has made an effort to reclaim the name All Golds from the negative connotations it once held, and in 1997 fought a legal case over the use of the name with the Australian Rugby League during the Super League war. In 2007 and 2008 an All Golds team took the field to celebrate the centenary of international rugby league.

The side selected was regarded as surprisingly strong, given the secretive circumstances that it was selected, and included a good mix of experience (nine internationals and fourteen provincial players) and youth.[3]

Overall the backs possessed experience and pace, they were a strong attacking unit at the time when New Zealand rugby was well known for its attacking prowess. If the backs had a weakness it was in their defence, as the Northern Union game required stronger defensive skills and more one on one tackling than they were used to.

Herbert Turtill – Fullback: A rugby union international who played in 1905 against Australia, Turtill was from the Canterbury side and was regarded as well versed in wet weather football.

Duncan McGregor – Three Quarters: Involved in the tour preparations from the outset, McGregor was a rugby union international who had represented both Canterbury and Wellington. When in England with the 1905 Originals the press had dubbed him "The Flying Scotsman".

George William Smith (vice-captain) – Three Quarters: At 35 he was still one of the fastest players in rugby. An Auckland representative and a famous New Zealand rugby union international, Smith had toured with the Originals and was also a champion jockey and world class athlete. Smith had been involved in the tour preparations and was keen to earn a professional contract in England.

Dally Messenger – Three Quarters: The Australian joined the tour in New South Wales after he had starred for the New South Wales side that played against the touring team. Messenger had been a former Australian representative and had recently signed with the New South Wales Rugby League as their star attraction.

Albert Baskiville – Wing: A speedy winger, Baskiville played in few matches as he concentrated on managing the tour. However he starred in the Australian tests before his tragic death.

Edgar Wrigley – Outside Back: A New Zealand rugby union international and Wairarapa representative from the Red Star Club in Masterton, Wrigley was best suited to the Centre or Second Five Eighth positions.

Joseph Lavery – Centre: A Canterbury representative Lavery had also played for South Island in 1903.

Richard Wynyard – Inside Back: From a strong rugby family, that included his brother William on the tour, Dick had won Auckland selection when he was only 20 and played in the side that won the Ranfurly Shield.

William Wynyard – Inside Back: Billy had won provincial honours later than his younger brother but by 1907 was well established in the Auckland team.

Lance Todd – Inside Back: The regular Five Eighth for the Auckland team, Todd had not yet achieved All Black or inter-island selection due to the abundance of talent in his position.

Edward Tyne – Half Back: A 1906 Canterbury and South Island representative, Tyne had since moved to Wellington and was selected due to his utility value.

William Tyler – Half Back: Another from the Ranfurly Shield winning Auckland Side, Tyler was large for a Half Back and also played Wing-Forward, a position that would quickly be abandoned in the touring team due to the rule changes.

Arthur Kelly – Half Back: One of the Wellington sides most promising young stars, Kelly was currently suspended by the Rugby Union after playing in Nelson under an assumed name and for expenses. The professional charge was never proven but Kelly was suspended for three years for playing under another name.

Jim Gleeson – Half Back: From the Hawkes Bay, Gleeson was selected more for his administration skills than his playing skills and was to become the tours Treasurer.

Tom "Angry" Cross – Forward: A man of large physique and a rugby union international, Cross had represented the South Island, Otago, Canterbury and Wellington and was regarded as exceptionally quick for his size. His nickname "Angry" was originally a play on his last name, but he was also regarded as one of the "hard men" of New Zealand rugby.

William Massa Johnston – Forward: Another Otago representative and a New Zealand rugby union international, Johnston had been playing senior football since he was 15. An original tourist, Johnston had become sick on that tour and had been restricted to only 13 matches.

Eric Watkins – Hooker: A Wellington and Wanganui representative, Watkins had also represented the North Island and the Originals in 1905.

Arthur Callum – Forward: An insurance agent and club mate of Gilchrist, Callum had played for Wellington in 1905 and 1907.

Charles Pearce – Forward: From Canterbury, Pearce was selected both for his experience and his size. Pearce was a team mate of Lavery and had been a regular member of Canterbury, he had played for the South Island in 1906.

William Trevarthen – Forward: An Auckland representative, Trevarthen had played for Ohinemuri in 1900 and since 1904 had represented Auckland.

Charles Dunning – Forward: Dunning was a builder by trade and had represented both Gisbourne and Auckland, where he had become a key member of the Ranfurly Shield team and represented the North Island.

William Mackrell – Forward: A New Zealand international and Auckland forward, Mackrell had toured with the Originals but played only a few games due to injuries.

Daniel Fraser – Fraser was from the Petone club in Wellington and had also played for the New Zealand Army Corps in South Africa. He joined the tour in New South Wales and acted as the tours Assistant Manager.

Henry J. Palmer – Financial Manager: A leading restaurateur in Wellington with many other business interests, Palmer was involved in organising the tour.

As the New Zealand Rugby League was not yet set up, the tour had no official administration body, the touring party legally formed itself into an organisation (The New Zealand All Black Rugby Football team) and each played invested £50 of their own money, quite a sum at that time. The players were paid £1 per week for expenses and then the profits (if any) were to be divided equally at the end of the tour. No bonuses of any kind were paid. Albert Baskiville acted as the tours secretary and did much of the administrative work. He was supported by Harry Palmer (Manager), Daniel Fraser (Assistant Manager) and Jim Gleeson (Treasurer).

Disputes while on tour were heard by a Management Committee, this consisted of Jim Gleeson, Harry Palmer, Duncan McGregory, Massa Johnston, Lance Todd, Bumper Wright and Bert Baskiville. This committee had the power to impose fines for indiscretions and even expel someone from the tour party if it was deemed to be necessary.[3]

1.
New Zealand
–
New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu

2.
Rugby football
–
Rugby is a type of football developed at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, one of many versions of football played at English public schools in the 19th century. The two main types of rugby are rugby league and rugby union, although rugby league initially used rugby union rules, they are now wholly separate sports. Following the 1895 split in rugby football, the two rugby league and rugby union differed in administration only. Soon the rules of rugby league were modified, resulting in two different forms of rugby. After 100 years, in 1995 rugby union joined rugby league, the Greeks and Romans are known to have played many ball games, some of which involved the use of the feet. These games appear to have resembled rugby football, the Roman politician Cicero describes the case of a man who was killed whilst having a shave when a ball was kicked into a barbers shop. Roman ball games already knew the air-filled ball, the follis, episkyros is recognised as an early form of football by FIFA. In 1871, English clubs met to form the Rugby Football Union, in 1892, after charges of professionalism were made against some clubs for paying players for missing work, the Northern Rugby Football Union, usually called the Northern Union, was formed. The existing rugby union authorities responded by issuing sanctions against the clubs, players, after the schism, the separate clubs were named rugby league and rugby union. Rugby union is both a professional and amateur game, and is dominated by the first tier unions, Argentina, Australia, England, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Wales. Rugby Union is administered by World Rugby, whose headquarters are located in Dublin and it is the national sport in New Zealand, Wales, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Madagascar, and is the most popular form of rugby globally. The Olympic Games have admitted the seven-a-side version of the game, known as Rugby sevens, there was a possibility sevens would be a demonstration sport at the 2012 London Olympics but many sports including sevens were dropped. In Canada and the United States, rugby union evolved into gridiron football, during the late 1800s, the two forms of the game were very similar, but numerous rule changes have differentiated the gridiron-based game from its rugby counterpart. Rugby league is also both a professional and amateur game, administered on a level by the Rugby League International Federation. International Rugby League is dominated by Australia, England and New Zealand, in Papua New Guinea it is the national sport. Other nations from the South Pacific and Europe also play in the Pacific Cup, distinctive features common to both rugby codes include the oval ball and throwing the ball forward is not allowed, so that players can gain ground only by running with the ball or by kicking it. As the sport of rugby league moved further away from its counterpart, rule changes were implemented with the aim of making a faster-paced. League players may not contest possession after making a tackle, play is continued with a play-the-ball, in league, if the team in possession fails to score before a set of six tackles, it surrenders possession

3.
Australia
–
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia

4.
Geography of Sri Lanka
–
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia near south-east India. Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest, Sri Lankas documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to World War II. Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lankas recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively ended when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, in addition to the majority Sinhalese, it is home to large groups of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda. Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the capital and largest city. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of the two countries in South Asia that are rated among high human development on the Human Development Index. In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names, according to the Mahavamsa, the legendary Prince Vijaya named the land Tambapanni, because his followers hands were reddened by the red soil of the area. In Hindu mythology, such as the Mahabharata, the island was referred to as Lankā, in Tamil, the island is referred to as Eelam. Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā or Taprobanē from the word Tambapanni, as a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon, it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. The country is known in Sinhalese as Śrī Laṃkā and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai, in 1972, its formal name was changed to Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka. Later in 1978 it was changed to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years, the era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala and it is said that Kubera was overthrown by his demon stepbrother Ravana, the powerful emperor who built a mythical flying machine named Dandu Monara. The modern city of Wariyapola is described as Ravanas airport, early inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of the Vedda people, an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. According to the Mahāvamsa, a written in Pāḷi, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600BC and other signs of advanced civilization has also discovered in Sri Lanka

5.
England
–
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years

6.
Wales
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Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and it had a population in 2011 of 3,063,456 and has a total area of 20,779 km2. Wales has over 1,680 miles of coastline and is mountainous, with its higher peaks in the north and central areas, including Snowdon. The country lies within the temperate zone and has a changeable. Welsh national identity emerged among the Celtic Britons after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, Llywelyn ap Gruffudds death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of Englands conquest of Wales, though Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to Wales in the early 15th century. The whole of Wales was annexed by England and incorporated within the English legal system under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism, Welsh national feeling grew over the century, Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and the Welsh Language Society in 1962. Established under the Government of Wales Act 1998, the National Assembly for Wales holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, two-thirds of the population live in south Wales, mainly in and around Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, and in the nearby valleys. Now that the countrys traditional extractive and heavy industries have gone or are in decline, Wales economy depends on the sector, light and service industries. Wales 2010 gross value added was £45.5 billion, over 560,000 Welsh language speakers live in Wales, and the language is spoken by a majority of the population in parts of the north and west. From the late 19th century onwards, Wales acquired its popular image as the land of song, Rugby union is seen as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness. The Old English-speaking Anglo-Saxons came to use the term Wælisc when referring to the Celtic Britons in particular, the modern names for some Continental European lands and peoples have a similar etymology. The modern Welsh name for themselves is Cymry, and Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales and these words are descended from the Brythonic word combrogi, meaning fellow-countrymen. The use of the word Cymry as a self-designation derives from the location in the post-Roman Era of the Welsh people in modern Wales as well as in northern England and southern Scotland. It emphasised that the Welsh in modern Wales and in the Hen Ogledd were one people, in particular, the term was not applied to the Cornish or the Breton peoples, who are of similar heritage, culture, and language to the Welsh. The word came into use as a self-description probably before the 7th century and it is attested in a praise poem to Cadwallon ap Cadfan c. 633. Thereafter Cymry prevailed as a reference to the Welsh, until c.1560 the word was spelt Kymry or Cymry, regardless of whether it referred to the people or their homeland. The Latinised forms of names, Cambrian, Cambric and Cambria, survive as lesser-used alternative names for Wales, Welsh

7.
Rugby Football League
–
The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the league competition run by the organisation. This has since been supplanted by Super League, the Championship, based at Red Hall in Leeds, it administers the England national rugby league team, the Challenge Cup, Super League and the Rugby League Championships. The social and junior game is administered in association with the British Amateur Rugby League Association, the Rugby Football League is a member of the Rugby League European Federation and as a senior Full Member has a combined veto power over the Council with France. The RFL is part of the Community Board, which also has representatives from BARLA, Combined Services, English Schools Rugby League, eventually the Northern was dropped from its name at the beginning of the 1980s. The turnover of the RFL was reported as £27m in 2011, two days later, on Thursday 29 August 1895, representatives of 21 clubs met in the George Hotel, Huddersfield to form the Northern Rugby Football Union. Twenty clubs agreed to resign from the Rugby Football Union, the Cheshire club, Stockport, had telegraphed the meeting requesting admission to the new organisation and was duly accepted with a second Cheshire club, Runcorn, admitted at the next meeting. The 22 clubs and their years of foundation were, In 1908 the Northern Unions brand of rugby was taken up in Australia, the Union hosted touring sides from both countries before assembling a Great Britain representative team for a 1910 tour of Australia and New Zealand. These nations, particularly Australia, would go on to excel in the sport, the British Amateur Rugby League Association was created in 1973 in Huddersfield by a group of enthusiasts concerned about the dramatic disappearance of many amateur leagues and clubs. Fewer than 150 amateur teams remained with a mere 30 youth rugby league teams, the breakaway from the RFL was acrimonious and was strongly contested, with a vote 29-1 against recognising BARLA. Thanks to Tom Mitchell, this changed to a vote of approval for BARLA within 12 months. Maurice Lindsay became the Chief Executive of the RFL in 1992, proposing the Super League, Lindsay returned to Wigan in 1999 for his second stint at the club after Sir Rodney Walker, then chairman of the RFL, sacked him after a campaign to unseat him failed. The RFL accumulated losses of £1.9 million at the end of 2001, shortly before a restructuring of the governing body. Within a year of joining the RFL, he oversaw reunification with BARLA after nearly 30 years of division, Lewis left in 2012 to become Chief Executive of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The RFL net value has been every year since 2004. The regional leagues may include winter competitions in addition, in 2012, the Rugby Football League were awarded the Stonewall Sport Award in recognition of their work in embracing inclusivity and tackling homophobia. They also became the first UK sporting organisation to make the top 100 employers in the Stonewall Index that measures attitudes towards lesbian, gay and bisexual staff. The RFL operates a system and is responsible for running the top three professional divisions as well as the National Conference League and various regional leagues below that

8.
Rugby league
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Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field. One of the two codes of football, it originated in England in 1895 as a split from the Rugby Football Union over the issue of payments to players. Its rules gradually changed with the aim of producing a faster, in rugby league, points are scored by carrying the ball and touching it to the ground beyond the opposing teams goal line, this is called a try, and is the primary method of scoring. The opposing team attempts to stop the side scoring points by tackling the player carrying the ball. In addition to tries, points can be scored by kicking goals, after each try, the scoring team gains a free kick to try at goal with a conversion for further points. Kicks at goal may also be awarded for penalties, and field goals can be attempted at any time. Rugby league is a sport in Northern England, the states of Queensland and New South Wales in Australia, New Zealand. The European Super League and Australasian National Rugby League are the club competitions. Rugby league is played internationally, predominantly by European, Australasian and Pacific Island countries, the first Rugby League World Cup was held in France in 1954, the current holders are Australia. The first of these, the Northern Rugby Football Union, was established in 1895 as a faction of Englands Rugby Football Union. Similar breakaway factions split from RFU-affiliated unions in Australia and New Zealand in 1907 and 1908, renaming themselves rugby football leagues, in 1922, the Northern Union also changed its name to the Rugby Football League and thus over time the sport itself became known as rugby league football. In 1895, a schism in Rugby football resulted in the formation of the Northern Rugby Football Union, within fifteen years of that first meeting in Huddersfield, more than 200 RFU clubs had left to join the rugby revolution. In 1897, the line-out was abolished and in 1898 professionalism introduced, in 1906, the Northern Union changed its rules, reducing teams from 15 to 13 a side and replacing the ruck formed after every tackle with the play the ball. A similar schism to that which occurred in England took place in Sydney, There, on 8 August 1907 the New South Wales Rugby Football League was founded at Batemans Hotel in George Street. Rugby league then went on to rugby union as the primary football code in New South Wales. On 5 May 1954 over 100,000 spectators watched the 1953–54 Challenge Cup Final at Odsal Stadium, Bradford, England, also in 1954 the Rugby League World Cup, the first for either code of rugby, was formed at the instigation of the French. In 1966, the International Board introduced a rule that a team in possession was allowed three play-the-balls and on the tackle a scrum was to be formed. This was increased to six tackles in 1972 and in 1983 the scrum was replaced by a handover,1967 saw the first professional Sunday matches of rugby league played

9.
New Zealand national rugby league team
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The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are known as the Kiwis. The teams colours are majority black with white and the players perform a haka before every match they play as a challenge to their opponents. The New Zealand Kiwis won the most recent Four Nations competition in 2014 and, since the 2015 Anzac Test, since the 1980s, most New Zealand representatives have been based overseas, in the professional National Rugby League and Super League competitions. Before that players were selected entirely from clubs in domestic New Zealand leagues, since then the Kiwis have regularly competed in international competition, touring Europe and Australia throughout the 20th century. New Zealand have competed in every Rugby League World Cup since the first in 1954, in 2008 New Zealand won the World Cup for the first time. They also contest the Baskerville Shield against England, and play an annual Anzac Test against Australia, Rugby football was introduced into New Zealand by Charles John Monro, son of the then speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, Sir David Monro. He had been sent to Christs College, East Finchley in north London and he brought the game back to his native Nelson, and arranged the first rugby match between Nelson College and Nelson Football Club, played on 14 May 1870. When New Zealands national rugby team toured Britain in 1905 they witnessed the growing popularity of the breakaway non-amateur Northern Unions games, on his return in 1906, All Black George William Smith met the Australian entrepreneur J J Giltinan to discuss the potential of professional rugby in Australasia. The first New Zealand team to play rugby was known as the All Blacks. To avoid confusion, the terms professional All Blacks or All Golds are used, in the meantime, a lesser known New Zealand rugby player, Albert Henry Baskerville was ready to recruit a group of players for a Great Britain pro tour. It is believed that Baskerville became aware of the profits to be made such a venture while he was working at the Wellington Post Office in 1906. A colleague had a fit and dropped a British newspaper. Baskerville picked it up and noticed a report about a Northern Union match that over 40,000 people had attended, Baskerville wrote to the NRFU asking if they would host a New Zealand touring party. The 1905 All Blacks tour was still fresh in English minds, thus the NU saw the upcoming competitive New Zealand tour as exceptional opportunity to raise the profile, the NU agreed to the tour provided that some of those original All Blacks were included in the New Zealand team. George Smith arrived back in New Zealand and after learning of Baskervilles plans, the New Zealand Rugby Union became aware of the tour and promptly applied pressure to any All Black or New Zealand representative player it suspected of involvement. They had the New Zealand Governments Agent General in London deliver a statement to the British press in an effort to undermine the tours credibility. This had little effect and by time the professional All Blacks were already sailing across the Tasman to give Australia its first taste of professional rugby

10.
History of rugby league
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Similar schisms occurred later in Australia and New Zealand in 1907. Gradually the rugby played in these breakaway competitions evolved into a separate sport that took its name from the professional leagues that administered it. Rugby league in England went on to set attendance and player payment records, the game also developed a significant place in the culture of France, New Zealand and several other Pacific Island nations, such as Papua New Guinea, where it has become the national sport. Although many forms of football had been played across the world, in 1871, English clubs playing the version of football played at Rugby School which involved much more handling of the ball than in association football, met to form the Rugby Football Union. Many new rugby clubs were formed, and it was in the Northern English counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire that the game really took hold, here rugby was largely a working class game, whilst the south eastern clubs were largely middle class. Rugby spread to Australasia, especially the cities of Sydney, Brisbane, Christchurch, here too there was a clear divide between the working and more affluent upper class players. England teams of the era were dominated by Lancashire and Yorkshire players, however these players were forbidden to earn any of the spoils of this newly-rich game. Predominantly working class found it difficult to play to their full potential because in many cases their time to play. A further limit on the ability of working class teams was that working class players had to be careful how hard they played. If injured, they had to pay their own bills and possibly take time off work. In 1892, charges of professionalism were laid against rugby football clubs in Bradford and Leeds, by implication they were arguing that this affected the RFUs decisions on the issue of broken time payments to the detriment of northern clubs, who made up the majority of English rugby clubs. Payment for broken time was a proposal put forward by Yorkshire clubs that would allow players to receive up to six shillings when they missed work because of match commitments, the idea was voted down by the RFU, and widespread suspensions of northern clubs and players began. Two days later, on 29 August 1895, representatives of clubs met in the George Hotel, Huddersfield to form the Northern Rugby Football Union. Twenty clubs agreed to resign from the Rugby Union, but Dewsbury felt unable to comply with the decision. The Cheshire club, Stockport, had telegraphed the meeting requesting admission to the new organisation and was accepted with a second Cheshire club, Runcorn. The rugby union authorities took action, issuing sanctions against clubs, players. This extended even to amateurs who played with or against Northern Union sides, consequently, northern clubs that existed purely for social and recreational rugby began to affiliate to the Northern Union, whilst retaining amateur status. By 1904 the new body had more affiliated to it than the RFU

11.
Rugby union
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Rugby union, known in some parts of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using a ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 restrictions on payments to players were removed, World Rugby, originally the International Rugby Football Board and from 1998 to 2014 the International Rugby Board, has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886. Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Rugby union is played in over 100 countries across six continents, there are 101 full members and 18 associate members of World Rugby. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, takes place four years with the winner of the tournament receiving the Webb Ellis Cup. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are major annual competitions. The origin of football is reputed to be an incident during a game of English school football at Rugby School in 1823. Although the evidence for the story is doubtful, it was immortalised at the school with a plaque unveiled in 1895, despite the doubtful evidence, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after Webb Ellis. Rugby football stems from the form of game played at Rugby School, Old Rugbeian Albert Pell, a student at Cambridge, is credited with having formed the first football team. During this early period different schools used different rules, with pupils from Rugby. Other important events include the Blackheath Clubs decision to leave the Football Association in 1863, despite the sports full name of rugby union, it is known simply as rugby throughout most of the world. The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England, by 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams, and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby tournament, the Melrose Sevens. During the early history of union, a time before commercial air travel. The first two notable tours both took place in 1888—the British Isles team touring New Zealand and Australia, followed by the New Zealand team touring Europe, All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics, and were far more successful than critics had expected. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in, the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event, in 1905 France played England in its first international match

12.
The Original All Blacks
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The Original All Blacks were the first New Zealand national rugby union team to tour outside Australasia. They toured the British Isles, France and the United States of America during 1905–1906 and their opening game, on 16 September 1905, was against Devon whom they defeated 55–4. They went on to defeat every English side that they faced, including a 16–3 victory over English county champions Durham, and they defeated Scotland, Ireland and England with the closest of the three matches their 12–7 victory over Scotland. The teams only loss of the tour was a 3–0 defeat by Wales at Cardiff Arms Park, a try claimed by winger Bob Deans was not awarded by the referee and later became a subject of controversy. However, Wales were generally considered the team with the All Blacks playing particularly poorly in the first half of the game. They managed narrow wins against four Welsh club teams and went on to play France in Frances first-ever Test match and they returned to New Zealand via North America where they played two matches against Canadian teams. Overall they played a total of thirty-five matches, which included five Tests, the 1905 All Blacks tour of Britain went on to achieve legendary status within the rugby world and New Zealand in particular. They scored 976 points and conceded only 59, and thus set the standard for future All Blacks sides, the tour also saw the first use of the All Blacks name and established New Zealands reputation as a world-class rugby nation. After the formation of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union in 1892, the first tour by a New Zealand representative side under NZRFU auspices was in 1894 to New South Wales. New Zealands first Test match was in 1903 when they played Australia in Sydney, New Zealands first home Test was played the following year when they defeated Britain at Athletic Park, Wellington, by 9–3. The win was significant as Britain had been unbeaten in their Australian tour, the New Zealand selectors named a squad of 53 players from which the touring team would be selected in late 1904. The following year, on 25 February, a list of 16 certainties for the tour was named, before the Northern Hemisphere tour,18 of the squad conducted a preliminary three-match tour of Australia where they won two matches and drew the other. They also played four matches in New Zealand, winning two, drawing one, and losing their final match 3–0 to Wellington. The team departed for England aboard the Rimutaka on 30 July, there were two ports of call on the journey – Montevideo, and Tenerife – before their arrival in Plymouth, England. The day after their arrival on 8 September, the squad travelled 24 km to Newton Abbot, which served as the teams training base throughout much of the tour. Because of this, Devon went into the match as favourites, however the crowd of 6,000 at the match were soon stunned by the New Zealanders as they scored 12 tries and eventually won 55–4. Billy Wallace scored 28 points, including three tries, and it would be another 51 years before another All Black would score points in one match. The score caused a sensation in Britain, and some newspapers even reported the score as Devon 55

13.
Albert Henry Baskerville
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Prior to becoming the administrator of the 1908 tour Baskerville played rugby for the Oriental club in Wellington and was said to be on the verge of provincial selection. His father had killed in 1903 and Bert had been the main income earner for the family since then. His book, Modern Rugby Football, New Zealand Methods, Points for the Beginner, the Player, after the success of this project he moved on to his next ambitious idea, a professional rugby tour of Great Britain. Baskerville wrote to the Northern Union and asked if they would host a party of New Zealand rugby players. The Northern Union were excited by this proposal and quickly agreed, after this Baskerville began to work on organising the tour full-time, leaving his job at the Postal Department and severing his connection with the Oriental Football Club. The Wellington Rugby Union moved quickly to attempt to stop him from attending their grounds, despite this he managed to put together an impressive touring party that included eight All Blacks, including four from the 1905 tour of Great Britain. The team was dubbed the All Golds by the Sydney press, the tour was a great success both financially, each player earned roughly £300, and on the field, where the touring side won consecutive Test series against Great Britain and Australia. For most of the tour Baskerville was busy with the work and it was not until the final game of the British leg, against St Helens R. F. C. that Baskerville played. On arriving in Australia he then played in the first ever trans-Tasman test which was the match of the Australia national rugby league team. Tragically that was to be the time that Baskerville would represent New Zealand in a Test match. Baskerville contracted pneumonia on the taking the touring party from Sydney to Brisbane and, after several days in hospital, died aged 25 in Brisbane. His body was taken by manager Harry Palmer and a group of players from each back to Wellington. The rest of the party stayed in Australia to complete their remaining fixtures. Like five other members of the touring party Baskerville is buried at Karori Cemetery, on their return from Australia the remaining members of the tour party held a memorial game, the first game of rugby league in New Zealand, and raised £300 for his widowed mother. He is commemorated by the naming of the Baskerville Shield, the trophy awarded when Great Britain, in 2001 Baskerville was inducted as one of the NZRL Legends of League. 2007 All Golds Tour – celebrating the centenary of Baskervilles 1907 Tour, history of Rugby League Rugby League Hall of Fame Baskiville page Albert Baskerville at nzhalloffame. co. nz

14.
Wellington
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Wellington is the capital and second most populous urban area of New Zealand, with 405,000 residents. It is at the tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. Wellington is the population centre of the southern North Island and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the worlds windiest city, with a wind speed of over 26 km/h. Situated near the centre of the country, Wellington was well placed for trade. In 1839 it was chosen as the first major planned settlement for British immigrants coming to New Zealand, the settlement was named in honour of the Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and victor of the Battle of Waterloo. As the nations capital since 1865, the New Zealand Government and Parliament, Supreme Court, despite being much smaller than Auckland, Wellington is also referred to as New Zealands cultural capital. The city is home to the National Archives, the National Library, architectural sights include the Government Building—one of the largest wooden buildings in the world—as well as the iconic Beehive. Wellington plays host to artistic and cultural organisations, including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. It has an urban culture, with many cafés, restaurants. One of the worlds most liveable cities, the 2014 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Wellington 12th in the world, Wellingtons economy is primarily service-based, with an emphasis on finance, business services, and government. It is the centre of New Zealands film and special effects industries, Wellington ranks as one of New Zealands chief seaports and serves both domestic and international shipping. The city is served by Wellington International Airport, the third busiest airport in the country, Wellingtons transport network includes train and bus lines which reach as far as the Kapiti Coast and Wairarapa, and ferries connect the city to the South Island. Wellington takes its name from Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington and victor of the Battle of Waterloo, his title comes from the town of Wellington in the English county of Somerset. One of the founders of the settlement, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, reported that the settlers took up the views of the directors with great cordiality, in Māori, Wellington has three names. In New Zealand Sign Language, the name is signed by raising the index, middle and ring fingers of one hand, palm forward, to form a W, and shaking it slightly from side to side twice. The citys location close to the mouth of the narrow Cook Strait leads to its vulnerability to strong gales, legends recount that Kupe discovered and explored the district in about the 10th century. The earliest date with hard evidence for Maori living in New Zealand is about 1280, European settlement began with the arrival of an advance party of the New Zealand Company on the ship Tory on 20 September 1839, followed by 150 settlers on the Aurora on 22 January 1840

15.
New South Wales
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New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south and it has a coast line with the Tasman Sea on its east side. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state, New South Wales state capital is Sydney, which is also Australias most populous city. In March 2014, the population of New South Wales was 7.5 million. Just under two-thirds of the population,4.67 million. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen, the Colony of New South Wales was founded as a penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised a more than half of the Australian mainland with its western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825, in addition, the colony also included the island territories of New Zealand, Van Diemens Land, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century, most of the area was detached to form separate British colonies that eventually became New Zealand. However, the Swan River Colony has never administered as part of New South Wales. Lord Howe Island remains part of New South Wales, while Norfolk Island has become a federal Territory, as have the now known as the Australian Capital Territory. The prior inhabitants of New South Wales were the Aboriginal tribes who arrived in Australia about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, before European settlement there were an estimated 250,000 Aboriginal people in the region. The Wodi Wodi people are the custodians of the Illawarra region of South Sydney. The Bundjalung people are the custodians of parts of the northern coastal areas. The European discovery of New South Wales was made by Captain James Cook during his 1770 survey along the eastern coast of the Dutch-named continent of New Holland. In his original journal covering the survey, in triplicate to satisfy Admiralty Orders, Cook first named the land New Wales, however, in the copy held by the Admiralty, he revised the wording to New South Wales. After years of chaos and anarchy after the overthrow of Governor William Bligh, macquaries legacy is still evident today. During the 19th century, large areas were separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria. Responsible government was granted to the New South Wales colony in 1855, following the Treaty of Waitangi, William Hobson declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840

16.
Dally Messenger
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Herbert Henry Dally Messenger was one of Australasias first professional rugby footballers, recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in either code. Messenger, or The Master as he was dubbed, represented his country in two rugby union tests and seven rugby league tests. Messenger had a build, and while standing only about 172 cm in height, he was a powerful runner of the ball. He was a teetotaller and non-smoker during his career and other than breakfast, Messenger was born in the Sydney waterfront suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, and grew up in another of Sydneys waterfront suburbs, Double Bay, where his father owned a boat shed. He also spent some time living with an aunt in South Melbourne, Victoria, in Sydney, Messenger attended Double Bay Public School in the citys eastern suburbs. It was here that he honed his rugby skills, while also playing cricket and indulging in his other great sporting love. Messenger worked, too, at his fathers boat shed, by this juncture, he had gained the nickname of Dally. Fortunately, little Herbert Henry shed his pot belly as he grew older, together with the e from the spelling of his nickname, Messenger first took up competitive rugby in 1900, playing for a local rugby union club called the Warrigals in a semi-social club competition. In 1905 he finally began playing for Easts in the clubs second-grade team, in that same season, he also purportedly played Australian rules football club in a number of first-grade matches in the Sydney competition. Messenger began the 1906 season in first grade with Easts as a standoff and he swiftly won a following amongst the clubs supporters due to his mesmeric ball skills, cheeky tricks, blistering acceleration and accurate short- and long-kicking game off either foot. Messenger moved to what would become his customary position of following his selection there for the New South Wales team in 1906. By the time of his Wallaby debut in 1907, he had made that position his own, in the book Viewless Winds, the 1906 representative footballer Paddy Moran wrote that Messengers play was full of surprises, unorthodox, flash and directed largely by the unconscious mind. He said that Messenger never became a slave to copybook practices because his instinct enabled him to see, Moran compared him to Bradman in terms of their mutual ability to instantaneously co-ordinate their bodies into the right position in apparently ample time before the ball would arrive. When talk of a rugby competition, or a Rugby League, was being aired. He was approached by a consortium that included Test cricketer, Victor Trumper with friend J. J. Giltinan and he signed on with the new professional code in 1907. As the premier rugby footballer of the time, Messengers signing is considered the moment in the substantiation of rugby league. After he became a league player, Messengers rugby games were struck from the record books of the New South Wales Rugby Union. Messenger played in the series against a professional New Zealand team, the All Golds as they were referred to

17.
2007 All Golds Tour
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The 2007 All Golds Tour was conducted as part of the celebrations of a century of rugby league in New Zealand. It was a re-creation of the original New Zealand rugby league tour of Great Britain in 1907, the New Zealand Kiwis toured Great Britain and France playing four test matches. They lost the series against Great Britain 3-0, failing to win the Baskerville Shield, in addition a special game was played between the All Golds and the Northern Union which featured many players coming out of international retirement for the game. The tour also involved a reception with The Queen at Buckingham Palace for the squad, in 1905 New Zealands rugby union team toured Great Britain and witnessed the growing popularity of the professional Northern Union rugby code. This team toured Australia and then Great Britain in 1907, and was known colloquially as the All Golds, Coach, Gary Kemble *Also played in All Golds match. To celebrate the inclusion of Australias Dally Messenger in the original All Golds tour, however, due to a career ending neck injury, he was unable to play with the squad. Australian captain Darren Lockyer was then set to take Johns place until he too was ruled out after suffering a knee injury. Trent Barrett was then linked with the role in the side however the place was taken by New Zealand Warriors captain. The Australian Test prop said it was mind-blowing to be invited on the tour, the NZRL expressed interest to include recently retired New Zealand Rugby League Legends Nigel Vagana, Ruben Wiki, and Stacey Jones in test matches. All three came out of retirement to play in the match against the Northern Union. Several current and former All Blacks were also considered for the match against the Northern Union, players who grew up playing rugby league such as Carlos Spencer, Piri Weepu and Maa Nonu were approached by the NZRL however none were available due to rugby union commitments. Jonah Lomu was also considered but was ruled out due to media. Brisbane Broncos coach Wayne Bennett accepted the invitation from the New Zealand Rugby League to join the All Golds for their match against the Northern Union in England in October. The former Queensland and Australian coach stated This is a great honour and this was an exhibition match played under 1907 rules. Awen Guttenbeil Coach, Wayne Bennett ^Australian guest player The New Zealand side played a total of five matches while on their European tour and one test in New Zealand before leaving. Great Britains scrum half back, Rob Burrow was awarded the George Smith Medal as player of the series which he finished as top scorer with 26 from two tries and nine goals. Coach Gary Kemble was fired after the losses, with Roy Asotasi. Kemble was replaced by Stephen Kearney as head coach and Wayne Bennett assistant coach, the All Golds played another match, against the New Zealand Māori in New Plymouth, in 2008 as part of the lead up to the Rugby League World Cup

18.
New Zealand Rugby
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New Zealand Rugby is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union,12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to the International Rugby Football Board, now known as World Rugby and it dropped the word Football from its name in 2006. The brand name New Zealand Rugby was adopted in 2013, NZR Headquarters are located in Wellington, New Zealand, with an office in Auckland. New Zealand Rugby’s purpose is to lead, grow, support and it is committed to New Zealand rugby being financially secure, attracting top partners and contributing actively to the global game. There are currently 11 NZRU Board members, the President, David Rhodes, was elected in 2015. The President may attend Board meetings but is not a Board member, Steve Tew is the current chief executive and Sir Brian Lochore is the current Patron. It also delivers Investec Super Rugby in New Zealand and manages Test matches in New Zealand, New Zealand Rugby has a staff of approximately 90 people, mostly based in Wellington and Auckland but also working in locations all around New Zealand. NZR was initially governed by a committee of delegates from the provincial unions until replaced in 1894 by a seven-member Wellington-based management committee, administrative responsibilities were initially held by honorary secretaries, and then secretaries, from 1907. This was expanded 43 years later to two entities, the ruling NZRU Council and an executive committee. In 1986, three geographical zones were formed to elect the members of the council, and the executive committee was replaced by an administration committee. Since 1990, the NZRU has been managed by a CEO, in 1996, the NZRUs ruling council was replaced by an expanded board to include independent members and an elected Maori representative. New Zealand Rugbys Patron fills a role as the figurehead for the organization. The current Patron is former All Blacks captain Sir Brian Lochore, the President and Vice President are the Unions two officers who represent New Zealand Rugby at functions and events. Unlike the Patron, the President and Vice President may attend meetings of New Zealand Rugby. The President and Vice President are elected for two years each, the current President is David Rhodes and the current Vice President is Maurice Trapp. The Board is charged with setting strategy, direction and policy for the New Zealand Rugby Union, many of the decisions concerning New Zealand’s national teams, domestic competitions, financial management and rugby traditions are made by the Board. As of April 2015, the Board has nine members, six elected members, any provincial union in New Zealand may nominate candidates for vacant elective positions

19.
Wellington Rugby Football Union
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The Wellington Rugby Football Union are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington. The main stadium is Westpac Stadium which is located in Wellington, the union also represents the Wellington Lions, which is professional rugby union team who compete in the Mitre 10 Cup competition and contest for the Ranfurly Shield. Before 2006 the Lions competed in the National Provincial Championship, players from Wellington who are eligible to play in the Super Rugby generally play for the Hurricanes, and traditionally contribute the core of the Hurricanes squad. This position is due to the Wellington basing of the Hurricanes. The reorganisation of provincial rugby in 2006 brought all three provinces into the ITM Cup, the senior Wellington representative team, the Wellington Lions play in the ITM Cup, which replaced the National Provincial Championship in 2006 as the Air New Zealand Cup. The Lions have won the competition four times since its inception in 1976. The titles came in 1978,1981,1986 and most recently in 2000 and their colours are gold and black as shown on the Lions jersey. The Lions play their games at the Westpac Stadium, previously playing at Athletic Park until 1999. In 2014 Wellington lost a record nine straight losses and were relegated to the ITM Cup Championship 2015, the Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o Wood, is perhaps the most prestigious trophy in New Zealand domestic rugby. First played for in 1904, the Ranfurly Shield is based on a challenge system, the holding union must defend the Shield in home matches, and if a challenger defeats them, they become the new holder of the Shield. Wellington won the first ever shield challenge winning it from Auckland in 1904 and it wouldnt be until 1914 when Wellington would get the shield back by winning it off Taranaki. This marked the longest time Wellington have held the shield successfully defending it for 15 matches until losing it again to Southland in 1920 and they beat Southland a year later to regain the shield before promptly losing to Hawkes Bay after only 2 matches. Wellington held the shield for one match in 1930 and after losing it to Canterbury they would not regain the shield until 1953. Up until the 1980s Wellington had short stints defending the shield, Wellington lost the shield to Canterbury on 29 August, losing 36–14 at Westpac Stadium. Canterbury then held the shield for 4 defences before losing to Southland on 22 October and it is currently held by Waikato who defeated Hawkes Bay on 9 October 2015 by 36–30. Wellington has a team that are part of the Womens Provincial Championship. Wellington Pride is the team aside from Auckland to have won the Womens Championship. Wellington has played a number of times against touring rugby teams

20.
Daily Mail
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The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust and published in London. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982, Scottish and Irish editions of the daily paper were launched in 1947 and 2006 respectively. A survey in 2014 found the age of its reader was 58. It had a daily circulation of 1,510,824 copies in November 2016. Its website has more than 100 million unique visitors per month, the Daily Mail has been accused of racism, and printing sensationalist and inaccurate scare stories of science and medical research. The Mail was originally a broadsheet but switched to a format on 3 May 1971. On this date it absorbed the Daily Sketch, which had been published as a tabloid by the same company. The publisher of the Mail, the Daily Mail and General Trust, is currently a FTSE250 company, the paper has a circulation of around two million, which is the fourth largest circulation of any English-language daily newspaper in the world. Circulation figures according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations in March 2014 show gross daily sales of 1,708,006 for the Daily Mail. According to a December 2004 survey, 53% of Daily Mail readers voted for the Conservative Party, compared to 21% for Labour, the main concern of Viscount Rothermere, the current chairman and main shareholder, is that the circulation be maintained. The Mail has been edited by Paul Dacre since 1992, the Daily Mail, devised by Alfred Harmsworth and his brother Harold, was first published on 4 May 1896. It cost a halfpenny at a time when other London dailies cost one penny, and was more populist in tone and more concise in its coverage than its rivals. The planned issue was 100,000 copies but the print run on the first day was 397,215, Lord Salisbury, 19th-century Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, dismissed the Daily Mail as a newspaper produced by office boys for office boys. By 1902, at the end of the Boer Wars, the circulation was over a million, from the beginning, the Mail also set out to entertain its readers with human interest stories, serials, features and competitions. In 1900 the Daily Mail began printing simultaneously in both Manchester and London, the first national newspaper to do so, the same production method was adopted in 1909 by the Daily Sketch, in 1927 by the Daily Express and eventually by virtually all the other national newspapers. Printing of the Scottish Daily Mail was switched from Edinburgh to the Deansgate plant in Manchester in 1968 and, for a while, in 1987, printing at Deansgate ended and the northern editions were thereafter printed at other Associated Newspapers plants. In 1906 the paper offered £1,000 for the first flight across the English Channel, punch magazine thought the idea preposterous and offered £10,000 for the first flight to Mars, but by 1910 both the Mails prizes had been won. Before the outbreak of World War I, the paper was accused of warmongering when it reported that Germany was planning to crush the British Empire

21.
J J Giltinan
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James Joseph Giltinan was an Australian entrepreneur who helped to found the sport of rugby league football in Australia. Giltinan Shield, which is awarded annually to the National Rugby League minor premiers, was named after him, on 8 August 1907 at Batemans Crystal Hotel, George Street, Sydney politician Henry Hoyle chaired a meeting of fifty, comprising several leading rugby players and officials. The New South Wales Rugby Football League, the body that would go on to conduct the national rugby league premiership of Australia, was founded. Before that he had invited the 1907 All Golds New Zealand professional rugby team to tour Australia en route to Britain, J. J. Giltinan led the first Kangaroo tour to England in 1908. An all round sports enthusiast, Giltinan had also officiated as an umpire in representative cricket matches, at the begninning of the season, the 1909 NSWRFL season the League had met and kicked out its founders, Giltinan, Victor Trumper and Henry Hoyle although, J. J. Giltinan remained Hon. Secretary of the New South Wales Rugby League from its inception until the six months of his life. Giltinan was also President of the Annandale Rugby League Club during the early years. In 1935, Giltinan formed a breakaway from the established Sydney Flying Squadron and his tenure at the Australian 18 Footers League culminated in his founding the JJ Giltinan International Trophy. This event is effectively the world championships for the spectacular 18ft Skiff class and is contested each year on Sydney Harbour, giltinans last public appearance was when he watched the Kangaroos win the ashes at the S. C. G. on 22 July 1950. He died less than 3 months later on 6 September 1950 and his funeral was held the following day at St. The President of the New South Wales Rugby League, Harry Jersey Flegg also attended the large funeral, the J J Giltinan Shield was created for the following New South Wales Rugby Football League season in his honour. Giltinan was awarded membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914. Giltinan was born on 30 August 1866 and is a relative of notable Australian tennis professional Bob Giltinan, in The First Kangaroos, a 1988 British–Australian made for TV sports film, the role of James Giltinan was played by well known Australian actor Chris Haywood. James Joseph Giltinan biography at Sport Australia Hall of Fame

22.
The New Zealand Herald
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The New Zealand Herald is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment. Its main circulation area is the Auckland region and it is also delivered to much of the north of the North Island including Northland, Waikato and King Country. The New Zealand Herald was founded by William Chisholm Wilson, Wilson had been a partner with John Williamson in the New Zealander, but left to start a rival daily newspaper as he saw a business opportunity with Auckland’s rapidly growing population. He had also split with Williamson because Wilson supported the war against the Māori while Williamson opposed it, the Herald also promoted a more constructive relationship between the North and South Islands. After the New Zealander closed in 1866 The Daily Southern Cross provided competition, the Daily Southern Cross was first published in 1843 by William Brown as The Southern Cross and had been a daily since 1862. Vogel sold out of the paper in 1873 and Alfred Horton bought it in 1876, in 1876 the Wilson family and Horton joined in partnership and The New Zealand Herald absorbed The Daily Southern Cross. In 1879 the United Press Association was formed so that the daily papers could share news stories. The organisation became the New Zealand Press Association in 1942, in 1892, the New Zealand Herald, Otago Daily Times, and Press agreed to share the costs of a London correspondent and advertising salesman. The New Zealand Press Association closed in 2011, the Herald is now owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment. That company is owned by Sydney-based APN News & Media and the Radio Network, dita de Boni was a columnist for the newspaper, writing her first columns for the NZ Herald in 1995. From 2012 -2015 she wrote a business and politics column until – after a series of articles critical of the Key government – the Herald discontinued her column due to financial reasons. Gordon Minhinnick was a staff cartoonist from the 1930s until his retirement in the 1980s, malcolm Evans was fired from his position as staff cartoonist in 2003 after the newspaper received complaints about his cartoons on the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Laurence Clark was the political cartoonist from 1987 to 1996. On 10 September 2012, the Herald moved to a format for weekday editions. The broadsheet format was retained for the Saturday edition, in April 2007, APN NZ announced it was outsourcing the bulk of the Heralds copy editing to an Australian-owned company, Pagemasters. The Herald is traditionally a centre-right newspaper, and was given the nickname Granny Herald into the 1990s, on domestic matters, editorial opinion is centrist, usually supporting socially conservative values. In 2007, an editorial strongly disapproved of some legislation introduced by the Labour-led government, the Herald published Baileys name, photo, and comments after she had retracted permission for Glucina to do so. The council said there was an “element of subterfuge” in Glucinas actions, in its ruling the council said that, “The NZ Herald has fallen sadly short of those standards in this case. ”The Heralds editor denied the accusations of subterfuge

23.
Amateur sports
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Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. The distinction is made between amateur sporting participants and professional sporting participants, who are financially remunerated for the time they spend competing and training, the majority of worldwide sporting participants are amateurs. Modern organized sports developed in the 19th century, with the United Kingdom, sporting culture was especially strong in private schools and universities, and the upper and middle class men who attended these institutions played as amateurs. Opportunities for working classes to participate in sport were restricted by their long six-day work weeks, in the UK, the Factory Act of 1844 gave working men half a day off, making the opportunity to take part in sport more widely available. Working class sportsmen found it hard to top level sport due to the need to turn up to work. On occasion, cash prizes, particularly in competitions, could make up the difference. Proponents of the amateur ideal deplored the influence of money and the effect it has on sports, working class sportsmen didnt see why they shouldnt be paid to play. Hence there were competing interests between those who wished sport to be open to all and those who feared that professionalism would destroy the Corinthian spirit and this conflict played out over the course of more than one hundred years. Corinthian has come to describe the most virtuous of amateur athletes—those for whom fairness, to that end, club rules ensured that crews consisted of amateurs, while no professional or paid hand is allowed to touch the tiller or in any way assist in steering. The earlier origins of the term are somewhat murky, though it must certainly be linked to the Isthmian games of ancient Corinth, it more proximately originates from common slang usage in early 19th century England. The Seawhanaka Yacht Club—founded in 1874—added Corinthian to its name in 1881, the Corinthian Football Club was founded in 1882. The Corinthian Yacht Club was founded in 1886 in Tiburon, California in the United States, the Yale Yacht Club was renamed the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club in 1893. By the early 21st century the Olympic Games and all the team sports accepted professional competitors. However, there are some sports which maintain a distinction between amateur and professional status with separate competitive leagues. The most prominent of these are golf and boxing, in particular, only amateur boxers could compete at the Olympics up to 2016. This may jeopardise their status as amateurs, and if allowed to let slide, where professionals are permitted, it is hard for amateurs to compete against them. Whether this is a triumph of capitalism or an example of corruption depends on the viewers perspective, to some an amateur means an incompetent or also-ran, and to others it means an idealist. To say that the athlete should not be paid can prevent performances only possible for an athlete who is free to pursue the sport full-time without other sources of income, the term shamateurism is used to describe state-sponsored athletes

24.
Duncan McGregor
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Duncan McGregor, was a New Zealand rugby union and rugby league footballer. He was a member of the legendary 1905 Original All Blacks and later converted to rugby league when he went on the 1907 New Zealand league tour of Britain and Australia. He stayed in Britain following the 1907–08 tour, and opened a store as well as playing for Merthyr Tydfil RLFC. He returned to New Zealand after five years and continued to be involved in league as an administrator. Duncan McGregor was the son of Alexander McGregor and his wife Barbara McGregor, duncan was born on 16 July 1881 at Kaiapoi. His father Alexander McGregor was a worker, working for the New Zealand Railways Department. HIs father, Alexander McGregor arrived in New Zealand on in and his mother, Barbara Gudex, along with her brother MIchael Gudex left Kindenheim, Germany in 1866 and arrived at Lyttelton on the Mermaid, on 5 January 1867. McGregor made his rugby union debut playing for Canterbury in 1900 when he was just 19. In 1902 he had a season, scoring 17 tries for Canterbury and 2 for South Island in just 10 first class matches. McGregor was subsequently selected for the 1903 New Zealand rugby union tour of Australia and won his first Test cap for New Zealand on 15 August 1903 against Australia. He transferred to Wellington in 1904 due to his employment taking him to Petone, McGregor represented Wellington and the North Island and retained his place in the All Blacks in 1904 and in 1905 was selected for the All Blacks tour of Great Britain. While on tour, the British press dubbed him the Flying Scotsman in recognition of his speed, while on tour he scored four times in one match in a Test match against the English. In all first class rugby union McGregor scored 66 tries in just 59 games, in 1907 McGregor joined the professional New Zealand team that toured Great Britain and Australia, this team played the sport now known as rugby league. He was a supporter of the tour from the outset and was one of the tours selectors. However, while on tour, he could not consistently make the first team, McGregor only ended up playing in one of the eight test matches on tour. He opted not to return to New Zealand, instead staying behind in Great Britain to open a store in Gloucestershire. In 1912 he suffered an injury and retired from the game. After returning to New Zealand McGregor stayed involved with rugby league, becoming a referee, in 1920 he was made a life member of the New Zealand Rugby League

25.
Line-out (rugby union)
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A line-out or lineout is a means by which, in rugby union, play is restarted after the ball has gone into touch. A line-out is one of the two methods of restarting play after the ball has gone into touch, the other is the quick throw-in. Due to the specific rules placed on quick throw-ins they are uncommon in a match with the majority of restarts from touch taking the form of a line-out. Where the line-out is taken depends on the manner in which the ball was played into touch. In all other cases, the line-out is formed at the spot where the ball crossed the touch-line, except that if this spot is within 5 metres of the goal-line, the line-out is formed on the 5-metre line. A line-out is also awarded if a player in possession of the ball crosses or touches the touchline whilst still in possession of the ball, each team may have, at most, one receiver at a line-out. The line-out was originally contested with both teams jumping unsupported to retrieve the ball, however, lifting in the line-out was later introduced under Law 19 of the IRB rules. Players must not interfere with the opposition during the line-out, penalty kicks and free kicks are awarded 15 metres infield from the touch-line. If the ball is thrown beyond the 15-metre line, a player from the team who is not taking part in the line-out may run forward to take the ball. If he does so, an opponent may also run forward to contest possession, players who are taking part in the line-out may move beyond the 15-metre line as soon as the ball leaves the throwers hands. If, however, a player runs forward or infield and the ball is not thrown beyond the 15-metre line, the line-out ends when the ball crosses the 15-metre line. Players from the side not throwing may jump to compete for the ball, alternatively, they may choose not to contest the line-out but to drive onto the catcher as soon as he returns to the ground. Often, when a team is awarded a line-out close to their opponents goal-line, they attempt to form a maul around the catcher. In such cases, the team will often seek to disrupt this tactic by driving in on the catcher, taking him to ground immediately. A quick throw-in may be taken without waiting for a line-out to be formed, if a line-out begins to form before the quick throw-in is taken the throw-in is not permitted. To prevent quick throw-ins, members of the team will often race to the point where the ball went into touch to ensure a line-out is forming. Ball back Offside What is a line-out, a Beginners Guide to Rugby Union

26.
National Provincial Championship
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The National Provincial Championship, or NPC, was the major domestic rugby competition in New Zealand. The NPC saw many alterations to its format and brand, since 2006, it has been replaced by two competitions, the ITM Cup and the Heartland Championship. From the 2011 Season, the top Division was split into two based on the 2010 Table after Pool Play. Teams 1–7 were assigned to the Premiership and teams 8–14 to the Championship, there is automatic Promotion/Relegation between the two tiers and also crossover matches, as well as full Round Robin Matches within each tier. The Heartland Championship is also split into two tiers after pool play with the top tier playing for the Meads Cup and bottom tier playing for the Lochore Cup, currently all 26 of New Zealands Provincial Unions participate in either the Air New Zealand Cup or Heartland Championship. The NPC was first contested in 1976, and although the format of Division One was much the same from then until the 2006 reorganisation. Initially, Division One was made up of 11 teams,7 from the North Island and 4 from the South, the remaining unions contested a split Division Two, with teams from each island playing amongst themselves. The format continued until 1985, when the split Division Two was replaced by a united Division Two, the top and bottom placed teams in each division were automatically promoted and relegated each year. In 1992, three teams from Division One were relegated so there were 9 teams in each division, also,1992 saw the introduction of semi-finals and a final to determine the champion in each division—previously, a league system had been used. Auckland were the most successful team in the NPC championship, having won 15 of the 30 series. The only change before 2006 was in 1998, when the number of teams in each division was changed to 10 in Division One,9 in Division Two, having an even number of teams in Division One removed the necessity for byes. Starting that year, automatic promotion/relegation between the top two divisions was ended, in its place, the winner of Division Two played a promotion-relegation match against the bottom club in Division One to determine whether the clubs would switch places. Through 2002, this match was hosted by the team in Division One. All 10 teams in First Division were elevated to the Air New Zealand Cup in 2006, Counties Manukau East Coast Hawkes Bay Manawatu Marlborough Nelson Bays North Otago Poverty Bay Wanganui The champion was Hawkes Bay, who defeated Nelson Bays for the Second Division title. Hawkes Bay, Counties Manukau and Manawatu were elevated to the Air New Zealand Cup as intact teams, Nelson Bays and Marlborough merged to form the new Tasman side in the Air New Zealand Cup. East Coast, North Otago, Poverty Bay and Wanganui entered the new Heartland Championship, buller Horowhenua-Kapiti King Country Mid Canterbury South Canterbury Thames Valley Wairarapa Bush West Coast The champion was Wairarapa Bush, which defeated Horowhenua-Kapiti in the final. All Third Division teams joined the Heartland Championship in 2006, note, From 1976 to 1984 there was no third division, and also the second division was divided into North and South Island competitions. From 1985 to 2005, there were three divisions, all organised on a nationwide basis, from 2006 onward there are 2 divisions of the National Championship, the ITM Cup and Heartland Championship

27.
George A. Gillett
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George Arthur Gillett was a renowned New Zealand multi-code footballer of the early 20th century and a dual-code rugby international. Gillett died in 1956 in Onehunga, born in Leeston, Gillett received his education at Hamilton East School and went on to represent Thames, and then Auckland in rugby union in 1899. After serving in the South African war, he lived in Kalgoorlie and whilst there played Australian rules football, Gillett returned to New Zealand in 1905 where he lived in Christchurch and played for the Merivale club. He was selected for the 1905–06 Original All Blacks tour without having played a game for Canterbury, on that tour he played 25 of the 35 matches including his first Test cap for New Zealand on 18 November 1905 against Scotland. In total he played 30 matches during the period of 1905 to 1908 including eight Tests, after switching to rugby league Gillett toured Australia with the 1911 New Zealand national team and was one of four New Zealanders who toured Britain with the 1911–12 Australasian team. He played in five matches but no Tests. Gillet coached the 1912 New Zealand side who played the touring New South Wales team and he later became the New Zealand Rugby Leagues official organiser, helping to promote the game particularly in the Thames and Wellington areas. In 1908, the touring Anglo-Welsh team were departing by ship when one of their players, Percy Down, Gillett, along with Arthur Bolla Francis and two others, dived into the water and kept Down afloat until a rope was lowered from the ship

28.
Auckland Rugby Union
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The Auckland Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in a portion of the Auckland Region of New Zealand. Its colours are blue and white in a hooped design. The ARFU govern the running of the Auckland representative team which have won New Zealands first-tier domestic competition National Provincial Championship 16 times—more than any other team and their most recent victory was the 2007 competition. Auckland also acts as a feeder to the Blues, who play in the Super Rugby competition. The union is coached by Paul Feeney the union also administers all club rugby within the region, including the Gallaher Shield, as well, the union is responsible for school rugby. The Auckland Rugby Football Union was officially formed in 1884, when it joined the Canterbury, Wellington, Auckland has been the most successful union in New Zealand rugby history, having won a record 16 ITM Cup titles. Auckland also holds the record for the most Ranfurly Shield wins, successful defences, in 1996, with the advent of professional rugby union, Auckland became the host, and primary feeder, to the Blues, known from 1996–99 as the Auckland Blues. There have been many notable eras in the teams history and it went undefeated for six seasons from 1897, and there was a ground breaking run in the early 1920s under Sir Vincent Meredith. The 1960–63 period, known as the Golden Era, was summed up in The Golden Years written by Don Cameron in 1983, there was also a relatively undisturbed spell of success from 1982 through to the 2007 Air New Zealand Cup victory. Auckland won 16 of the 26 Air New Zealand NPC titles available in that time – a period that included 61 Ranfurly Shield defences, Auckland went undefeated for six seasons from 1897, and there was an undefeated run in the early 1920s under Sir Vincent Meredith. The 1960 to 1963 period, known as the Golden Era, was summed up in The Golden Years written by Don Cameron in 1983. Auckland were the first holders of the Ranfurly Shield in 1902 and have won 153 out of 194 shield matches – the most successful record of any provincial union. Notable periods include from 1905 to 1913, when they defeated 23 successive challenges,1960 and 1963, when 25 challenges were defeated,1985 to 1993, Auckland most recently held the shield between 2007 and 2008, when 5 challenges were defeated. In 1993, Auckland defeated the British Lions by 23–18 during their tour to New Zealand, with six titles in the 1990s, and four so far in the new century, Aucklands domination of the New Zealand rugby landscape continues. The 2007 team is the first since the 1990 side to remain unbeaten in a season and win the Ranfurly Shield and their womens team, known as the Auckland Storm, are the most successful womens team in New Zealand. They are the current National Champions, and have won 13 of the 14 Womens Provincial Championship, among the earliest founding clubs in Auckland were Grafton, Ponsonby and College Rifles, Marist, University, Grammar and Suburbs. He became the sole selector to the Auckland team, leading the side to eight successive Ranfurly Shield wins and he then joined the army at a relatively late age, and was killed in the Passchendaele offensive in 1917 aged 43. His Ponsonby side has dominated the Gallaher Shield, winning it 33 times, the Auckland Rugby Football Union consists of 20 clubs from the Auckland isthmus

29.
Ranfurly Shield
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The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o Wood, is a trophy in New Zealands domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system, the holding union must defend the shield in challenge matches, and a successful challenger becomes the new holder of the Shield. This is mainly due to its history, the fact that every challenge is a sudden-death defence of the Shield. The Shield is currently held by Canterbury, after beating Waikato on 28 September 2016 at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, canterburys won their first defence against North Harbour and will now hold onto the Shield over the 2016-2017 Summer. In 1901 the Governor of New Zealand, the Earl of Ranfurly, when the trophy, a shield, arrived, the NZRFU decided that it would be awarded to the union with the best record in the 1902 season, and thenceforth be the subject of a challenge system. Auckland, unbeaten in 1902, were presented with the shield, the shield was designed as a trophy for association football, not rugby. The picture in the centrepiece was a one, and was modified by adding goal posts on the soccer goal in the picture to create a rugby scene. The alterations to the centrepiece are still apparent, Auckland were on tour in 1903 and did not play any home games, and thus did not have to defend the Shield. Their first defence was against Wellington in 1904, and was unsuccessful, Auckland hold the record for the greatest number of consecutive Shield defences,61 matches between 14 September 1985 and 18 September 1993. During this period Auckland took the Shield on tour to provincial unions that, mainly for financial reasons, while dismissed by some critics, usually because of the one-sided scores, it was mostly regarded as a success by those involved. In 1994 when Canterbury wrested the Shield from Waikato, it was in battered condition, with cracks, chips. Nearly a century of use had taken its toll, Canterbury player Chris England, skilled in woodwork, fully renovated it, bringing it back into pristine condition. The Shield holder at the end of season is required to accept at least seven challenges for the following year. All home games during league play, but not during knockout playoffs, the remaining shield defences must be made up of challenges from unions in the other domestic competition. Having successfully done so, all their fixtures in the round-robin phase were Shield defences until they lost the shield to Waikato. More recently, Auckland played both their defences against Heartland teams in 2008 on the road. If a challenger successfully takes the Shield, all of their matches for the rest of the season are defences of it. The Shield will not be at stake in semifinals or finals, the changes were not implemented, but did receive support from Auckland, which held the Shield when the NZRU released its report

30.
Peter Moir
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Peter Moir was an Australian rugby footballer of the early 1900s who was a key figure in the foundation of rugby league in Australia. He was one of Australias first national representative players appearing in the professional series against New Zealand in 1907. Moir played rugby for Bathurst and Glebe, gaining selection for the New South Wales rugby union team in 1903, the following year, the 1908 NSWRFL season, the first of the New South Wales Rugby Football League, commenced and Moir played for Glebe RLFC. He made two state representative appearances for New South Wales against Queensland that year and at seasons end he was selected to tour with the inaugural Kangaroos on the 1908-09 tour and he played in only four matches of the tour none of them Test matches. Following the Kangaroo tour he retired and took on a role with the Glebe club. He was only 39 years old when he died at the Coast Hospital, peter Moir was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914. Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney

31.
New South Wales Rugby League
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The New South Wales Rugby League is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League until 1984. From 1908 to 1994, the NSWRL ran Sydneys, then New South Wales, the organisation is responsible for administering the New South Wales rugby league team. The following clubs are the clubs of the NSWRL. The New South Wales Rugby Football League was responsible for the introduction of rugby league into New South Wales in 1907, since that time the NSWRFL has built a rich tradition at all levels of the game. Great names and great games illuminate the Leagues growth since 1907 up to the present day, key figures in the new movement were James Joseph Giltinan, legendary cricketer Victor Trumper, Alex Burdon, Peter Moir, Labor politician Henry Hoyle, George Brackenreg and Jack Feneley. The first rugby game in New South Wales was played on 17 August 1907. The Sydney premiership was started on 20 April 1908, Nine teams contested the initial season. In 1929 Jersey Flegg was appointed to the position of president of the NSWRFL, at the time of his death in 1960, aged 82, he was still serving in these roles. When NSWRFL president Flegg died in 1960, Bill Buckley replaced him and also became boss of the Australian Rugby League, in 1973 Kevin Humphreys was appointed President of New South Wales Rugby League and Chairman of Australian Rugby League. Under him State of Origin was introduced, in 1983 Humphreys was succeeded in these positions by Ken Arthurson. It does so in conjunction with the NSW Country Rugby League, in a similar way, the rival Queensland Rugby League retained responsibility for that states Origin team and lower tier competitions. The Royal Agricultural Society Shield, or RAS Shield was the New South Wales Rugby League s first premiership trophy and it was presented to each years premiership winning rugby league team, the first to win three successive titles would take permanent ownership of the shield. The Eastern Suburbs club achieved this feat winning premierships in 1911,1912 and 1913, the hand crafted silver and oak designed shield was donated to the NSWRL by the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales in its first year of competition. The club has presented the shield to their captain, Dally Messenger, in 1929 Jersey Flegg was appointed to the position of president of the NSWRFL. Midway through the 1909 season, Edward Larkin was appointed secretary of the NSWRFL. In 1951, the NSWRFL originated the J. J, Giltinan Shield, following his death in 1950. This trophy was awarded to the premiers of the NSWRFL competition, being named one of the founding fathers of the NSWRFL

32.
New South Wales Waratahs
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The New South Wales Waratahs (/ˈwɒrətɑːz/ or /ˌwɒrəˈtɑːz/, referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other parts of the state, are represented by the Brumbies. The name and emblem comes from the waratah, the flower for New South Wales. Their home ground is Allianz Stadium in Sydney, some matches are also held at ANZ Stadium. The NSWRU was established in 1874, and the very first club competition took place that year, by 1880 the SRU had over 100 clubs in its governance in the metropolitan area. In 1882 the first New South Wales team was selected to play Queensland in a two-match series, NSW would go on to win both the games. That same year the first NSW touring squad was selected to go, in 1907, several of the New South Wales rugby union teams players defected to play for the New South Wales rugby league team against a visiting rebel New Zealand rugby team. This was essentially the birth of rugby league in Australia, during World War I, the NSW Rugby Unions ceased senior competition. The Queensland body however would not reform until 1929, which saw NSW have more responsibilities for Australian rugby, in 1921 the Waratahs toured New Zealand again, and out of their 10 fixtures, won nine games, including the Test. They won 24 and drew two of their 31 official matches, seven members of this 1927/8 side were from the Drummoyne Rugby Club. Upon returning home, were greeted with a parade through Sydney, matches against Queensland would soon resume also. The 1930s were a successful time for NSW. The height of the success of NSW is best represented by the defeat of the South African Springboks in 1937 at the SCG, in 1963 the Sydney Rugby Union was established for the growth of the game in the city area. The NSW Rugby Union would celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1974, as part of the anniversary celebrations, a match was played at the SCG on 18 May against the All Blacks, though the Waratahs lost nil to 20. In their inaugural Super 12 season of 1996, the Waratahs won just under half of their games, finishing mid table, the following season of 1997 saw the Waratahs end in a 9th place, winning four fixtures. The Waratahs won four fixtures the next season and they won five games in the 2000 season and the Tahs finished their season in 9th place. In 2001 after replicating their 2000 performance, the Waratahs were still out of reach of finals contention, in 8th position. 2002 was a record breaking season for the Waratahs, as the team won eight out of their 11 season games, however, in the final game of the regular season the Waratahs lost 96–19

33.
New Zealand national rugby union team
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The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly called the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in mens rugby union, which is regarded as the countrys national sport. The side has won the last two Rugby World Cups, in 2011 and 2015, as well as the tournament in 1987. They have a 77% winning record in test match rugby, and are the international side with a winning record against every opponent. Since their international debut in 1903, they have lost to only six of the 19 nations they have played in test matches, since the introduction of the World Rugby Rankings in 2003, New Zealand has held the number one ranking longer than all other teams combined. The All Blacks are statistically the best side to have played the game, New Zealand competes with Argentina, Australia and South Africa in The Rugby Championship. The All Blacks have won the fourteen times in the competitions twenty-one-year history. As of the end of 2016 competition, they hold the Bledisloe Cup, which is contested annually with Australia, New Zealand have achieved a Grand Slam four times –1978,2005,2008 and 2010. Fifteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, All Black coaches have won World Rugby Coach of the Year nine times since the awards 2001 launch. The teams first match was in 1884, and their first international test match was in 1903 against Australia in Sydney, the following year they hosted their first ever home test, a match against a British Isles side in Wellington. This was followed by a 34-game tour of Europe and North America in 1905, New Zealands early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers. By the 1905 tour, they were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, the team perform a haka – a Māori challenge or posture dance – before each match. The haka performed has traditionally been Te Rauparahas Ka Mate, although since 2005 Kapa o Pango is often performed, the first recorded game in New Zealand took place in May 1870 in Nelson between the Nelson club and Nelson College. The first provincial union, the Canterbury Rugby Football Union, was formed in 1879, NSW did not face a New Zealand representative team but played seven provincial sides – the tourists won four games and lost three. Two years later the first New Zealand team to travel overseas toured New South Wales, a privately organised British team, which later became the British and Irish Lions, toured New Zealand in 1888. No test matches were played, and the only played provincial sides. The British players were mainly from Northern England, but there were representatives from Wales. The first officially sanctioned New Zealand side toured New South Wales in 1893, the following year New Zealand played its first home international game, losing 8–6 to New South Wales. The teams first true test match occurred against Australia on 15 August 1903 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of over 30,000 spectators, a representative New Zealand team first toured the British Isles in 1905

34.
Sydney Showground (Moore Park)
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In 1811, Governor Macquarie proclaimed Sydney’s second common, an area of 1,000 acres. The period from 1902 to 1919 saw the expansion of the showgrounds to the south, from 1920–1937, the grounds were further expanded to the north, with the addition of new squares and judging rings. The dominant visual elements of the complex by this time were the walls, the Members’ Grandstand clock tower. The country’s sesqui-centenary celebrations of 1938 led to a building program at the showground, including the Government Pavilion. Aside from the Royal Easter Show and rugby matches, the venue was used for World Series Cricket games in the late 1970s when the Sydney Cricket Ground was unavailable. At its peak, the old showground could hold over 90,000 people. The Main Arena at the Sydney Showground was also used as one of two Sydney Harness racing venues, the other being the Harold Park Paceway, located only 4 km from Moore Park in the suburb of Glebe. Claimed to be the fastest speedway in the world in 1937, although solo motorcycles were first to race at the Showgrounds they were soon joined by sidecars, speedcars and later Super Modifieds. In the 1950s stock cars began to appear joined much later by demolition derbies, since the departure of the Royal Easter Show to the new showground, the old showground has been redeveloped as Fox Studios, a commercial venture designed at supporting Australias film industry. It is in proximity with some of Sydneys largest public venues, namely the Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Football Stadium, and the Hordern Pavilion. Played by a New South Wales team against New Zealands rebel 1907 tourists, after that the Agricultural Ground hosted the first ever interstate matches between New South Wales and Queensland. Sydneys Royal Agricultural Showground was then venue for the first Ashes test on Australian soil, the showground also became the venue for the NSWRFLs grand finals until the late 1920s, and eventually hosted 183 first grade rugby league games. The venue hosted concerts by famous artists, including Led Zeppelin, ABBA, David Bowie, AC/DC, The Police and KISS. English rock band Led Zeppelin played to over 25,000 fans at the Sydney Showground in February 1972 as part of their 1972 Australasian Tour, footage from the show is featured on disc two of the Led Zeppelin DVD released some thirty years after the event. The Sydney Showgrounds was also the venue for the annual Sydney Big Day Out music festival held in January between 1992 and 1997. The 1997 event was titled Six and Out - Big Day out then indicating the final Big Day Out Festival before its new beginning at the new Sydney Showground Homebush in 1999. The former Sydney Showground is featured in the Rage Against the Machine video clip for Bulls on Parade, from when they performed live at the Big Day Out Festival on 25 January 1996

35.
Melbourne
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Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania. The name Melbourne refers to an urban agglomeration spanning 9,900 km2, the metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of 4,641,636 as of 2016, and its inhabitants are called Melburnians. Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemens Land on 30 August 1835, in what was then the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named Melbourne by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria, to whom Lord Melbourne was close, in 1847, during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the worlds largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the interim seat of government until 1927. It is a financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region. It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a centre for street art, music. It was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the main passenger airport serving the metropolis and the state is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia. The Port of Melbourne is Australias busiest seaport for containerised and general cargo, Melbourne has an extensive transport network. The main metropolitan train terminus is Flinders Street Station, and the regional train. Melbourne is also home to Australias most extensive network and has the worlds largest urban tram network. Before the arrival of settlers, humans had occupied the area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years. At the time of European settlement, it was inhabited by under 2000 hunter-gatherers from three indigenous tribes, the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung and Wathaurong. The area was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and it would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted. Batman selected a site on the bank of the Yarra River. Batman then returned to Launceston in Tasmania, in early August 1835 a different group of settlers, including John Pascoe Fawkner, left Launceston on the ship Enterprize

36.
Sri Lanka national rugby union team
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The Sri Lanka national rugby union team has yet to make their debut at the Rugby World Cup. They have the longest tradition of organised club rugby in Asia, dating back to 1879 and they regularly compete in the Asian Five Nations tournament and are currently in Division I. In the 2010 tournament, they made it to the finals beating Chinese Taipei 37 to 7, Sri Lanka Rugby has a long history, dating back to the days of British colonialism. The first party to introduce Rugby to Sri Lanka is Kingswood College in Kandy, with the first club, Colombo Football Club, the professional All Blacks won the match 33-6. The Ceylon Rugby Football Union was founded 10 August 1908, in 1974 it changed its name to the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union. Mahesh Rodrigo, better known as a cricketer, also captained the national team. World Cup qualifying 1995 World Cup 1995 was the first time Sri Lanka entered into a World Cup qualifying tournament, Sri Lanka was in Group A along with Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia. They lost all three games scoring an aggregate of 30 against 155, Japan went on to qualify for the World cup. 1999 World Cup Sri Lanka participated in the 1999 Rugby World Cup qualifying and was in Round 1 with Thailand, in the opening round, Sri Lanka won both games to qualify through to the second round. The next round was tough for Sri Lanka and it didnt go well with a lost to Chinese Taipei ending the hopes for the World Cup after defeating Malaysia earlier. The furthest they have made was to Round 2 of the Asian qualifying competition for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, at the Divisional tournament Sri Lanka finished third, drawing against Singapore and losing to Chinese Taipei. The Chinese team withdrew from the tournament due to lack of availability and were relegated to Division Two. In 2009 Sri Lanka again finished third in the Divisional tournament defeating Thailand in the 3rd-place final, Sri Lanka won Division One of the 2010 Divisional tournament beating Singapore in the final, thereby winning promotion to the 2011 Asian Five Nations for the first time. In the 2012 Division tournament the team won two matches but were defeated by the Philippines, which meant Sri Lanka missed out on promotion and remained in Division One. At the 2013 Division tournament held in Colombo, Sri Lanka were successful in winning all three of its matches earning a promotion to the Asian Five Nations, in 2014 Sri Lanka lost all four of its matches in the Asian Five Nations and were relegated back to Division One. Due to financial reasons, the game was cancelled with South Korea remaining in the tri-nations division. In 2016 Sri Lanka finished second at the Division tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Sri Lanka defeated both Singapore and the Philippines but lost to hosts Malaysia. P. Abeygunawardene Norman Laker 2007 Rugby Asiad Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union official web site List and results of all IRB sanctioned international rugby games played by Sri Lanka

37.
Cricket
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Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a cricket field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard-long pitch with a wicket at each end. One team bats, attempting to score as many runs as possible, each phase of play is called an innings. After either ten batsmen have been dismissed or a number of overs have been completed, the innings ends. The winning team is the one that scores the most runs, including any extras gained, at the start of each game, two batsmen and eleven fielders enter the field of play. The striker takes guard on a crease drawn on the four feet in front of the wicket. His role is to prevent the ball hitting the stumps by use of his bat. The other batsman, known as the non-striker, waits at the end of the pitch near the bowler. A dismissed batsman must leave the field, and a teammate replaces him, the bowlers objectives are to prevent the scoring of runs and to dismiss the batsman. An over is a set of six deliveries bowled by the same bowler, the next over is bowled from the other end of the pitch by a different bowler. If a fielder retrieves the ball enough to put down the wicket with a batsman not having reached the crease at that end of the pitch. Adjudication is performed on the field by two umpires, the laws of cricket are maintained by the International Cricket Council and the Marylebone Cricket Club. Traditionally cricketers play in all-white kit, but in limited overs cricket they wear club or team colours. In addition to the kit, some players wear protective gear to prevent injury caused by the ball. Although crickets origins are uncertain, it is first recorded in south-east England in the 16th century and it spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire, leading to the first international matches in the mid-19th century. ICC, the governing body, has over 100 members. The sport is followed primarily in Australasia, Britain, the Indian subcontinent, southern Africa, womens cricket, which is organised and played separately, has also achieved international standard. A number of words have been suggested as sources for the term cricket, in the earliest definite reference to the sport in 1598 it is called creckett. One possible source for the name is the Old English cricc or cryce meaning a crutch or staff, in Samuel Johnsons Dictionary, he derived cricket from cryce, Saxon, a stick

38.
Yorkshire
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Yorkshire, formally known as the County of York, is a historic county of Northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Due to its size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been undertaken over time by its subdivisions. Throughout these changes, Yorkshire has continued to be recognised as a geographical territory, Yorkshire has sometimes been nicknamed Gods Own County or Gods Own Country. Yorkshire Day, held on 1 August, is a celebration of the culture of Yorkshire. Yorkshire is now divided between different official regions, most of the county falls within Yorkshire and the Humber. The extreme northern part of the county falls within North East England, Small areas in the west of the historic county now form part of North West England, following boundary changes in 1974. Yorkshire or the County of York was so named as it is the shire of the city of York local /ˈjɔːk/ or Yorks Shire, York comes from the Viking name for the city, Jórvík. Shire is from Old English, scir meaning care or official charge, the shire suffix is locally pronounced /-ʃə/ shuh, or occasionally /-ʃiə/, a homophone of sheer. Early inhabitants of Yorkshire were Celts, who formed two tribes, the Brigantes and the Parisi. The Brigantes controlled territory which later became all of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the tribe controlled most of Northern England and more territory than any other Celtic tribe in England. That they had the Yorkshire area as their heartland is evident in that Isurium Brigantum was the town of their civitas under Roman rule. Six of the nine Brigantian poleis described by Claudius Ptolemaeus in the Geographia fall within the historic county, the Parisi, who controlled the area that would become the East Riding of Yorkshire, might have been related to the Parisii of Lutetia Parisiorum, Gaul. Their capital was at Petuaria, close to the Humber estuary, initially, this situation suited both the Romans and the Brigantes, who were known as the most militant tribe in Britain. Queen Cartimandua left her husband Venutius for his bearer, Vellocatus. Cartimandua, due to her relationship with the Romans, was able to keep control of the kingdom. At the second attempt, Venutius seized the kingdom, but the Romans, under general Petillius Cerialis, the fortified city of Eboracum was named as capital of Britannia Inferior and joint-capital of all Roman Britain. During the two years before the death of Emperor Septimius Severus, the Roman Empire was run from Eboracum by him, another emperor, Constantius Chlorus, died in Yorkshire during a visit in 306 AD. This saw his son Constantine the Great proclaimed emperor in the city, in the early 5th century, the Roman rule ceased with the withdrawal of the last active Roman troops

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Lancashire
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Lancashire is a non-metropolitan ceremonial county in north west England. The county town is Lancaster although the administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300, people from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians. The history of Lancashire begins with its founding in the 12th century, in the Domesday Book of 1086, some of its lands were treated as part of Yorkshire. The land that lay between the Ribble and Mersey, Inter Ripam et Mersam, was included in the returns for Cheshire, when its boundaries were established, it bordered Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire. Lancashire emerged as a commercial and industrial region during the Industrial Revolution. Liverpool and Manchester grew into its largest cities, dominating global trade, the county contained several mill towns and the collieries of the Lancashire Coalfield. By the 1830s, approximately 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire, Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Chorley, Colne, Darwen, Manchester, Nelson, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale and Wigan were major cotton mill towns during this time. Blackpool was a centre for tourism for the inhabitants of Lancashires mill towns, the detached northern part of Lancashire in the Lake District, including the Furness Peninsula and Cartmel, was merged with Cumberland and Westmorland to form Cumbria. Lancashire lost 709 square miles of land to other counties, about two fifths of its area, although it did gain some land from the West Riding of Yorkshire. Today the county borders Cumbria to the north, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south and North and West Yorkshire to the east, with a coastline on the Irish Sea to the west. The county palatine boundaries remain the same with the Duke of Lancaster exercising sovereignty rights, including the appointment of lords lieutenant in Greater Manchester, the county was established in 1182, later than many other counties. During Roman times the area was part of the Brigantes tribal area in the zone of Roman Britain. The towns of Manchester, Lancaster, Ribchester, Burrow, Elslack, in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal in 410AD the northern parts of the county probably formed part of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a successor entity to the Brigantes tribe. During the mid-8th century, the area was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, in the Domesday Book, land between the Ribble and Mersey were known as Inter Ripam et Mersam and included in the returns for Cheshire. Although some historians consider this to mean south Lancashire was then part of Cheshire and it is also claimed that the territory to the north formed part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It bordered on Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire, the county was divided into hundreds, Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford and West Derby. Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North, the part north of the sands of Morecambe Bay including Furness and Cartmel

Wales ((listen); Welsh: Cymru [ˈkəmri] (listen)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of …

Britain in AD 500: The areas shaded pink on the map were inhabited by the CelticBritons, here labelled Welsh. The pale blue areas in the east were controlled by Germanic tribes, whilst the pale green areas to the north were inhabited by the Gaels and Picts.